Orange is the New Black
by RMCroft
Summary: Follow Rose and the gang as they live their lives in St. Vladimir's Minimum Security Women's Prison. What drama will unfold when a certain sexy Russian becomes a corrections officer? Will a romance be able to blossom with Rose behind bars? An Orange is the New Black meets VA situation, AU, All Human.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So I'm posting this essentially just for shits and giggles, it seemed wrong to write all of this just for myself. I just finished season 4 of** **Orange is the New Black and the idea for this popped into my head.**

 **So before we get going, here are some terms I think need defining if you don't watch the show or in general have no clue about prison lingo (not that I have much insight other than what I've seen on the show).**

 **CO-** the acronym for Corrections Officer, or the prison guard

 **Hooch-** alcoholic liquor, especially inferior or illicit whiskey

 **Prologue**

I was dreaming. My cousin Meredith was laughing, her soft brown hair glimmering in the sun. I think we were on the beach. I screamed as she splashed water in my direction, not wanting to get salt water in my eyes. Even in my dream-state, I had a sudden pang of longing for Meredith. She used to be my best friend. She was like a sister to me, only a year and a half younger, but close enough in age to share everything.

She jumped into the wave, letting it sweep her away before rising up out of the water laughing, her hair dripping water over her soaked body.

"Up for count, Rose!" she yelled at me.

"What?" I ask her, confused.

"Everyone up for count!" I hear someone, not Meredith, shout. Slowly I wake from my dream and open my eyes to see what used to be the off-white, but was now yellow-grey, ceiling.

Groaning, I rub my hands harshly over my face and sigh, sitting up to look over at my bunkmate, Lissa. Her pale blond hair is tangled and lank around her face, and her eyes are a bit puffy from lack of sleep, but somehow she's still gorgeous. Bitch.

As if sensing my stare, she looks over at me, mirroring my look of disdain, before rolling her eyes and stumbling out of her bunk. I swing my legs out of my itchy covers, the cold tile of the floor stinging my toes, as I was too hot to wear socks to bed last night.

I ran my hand through my tangled mess of waves that I called hair, and made my way to stand by Lissa just outside the walls of our bunk. I looked around me at all the other women here who looked just like me. Tired eyes and messy hair adorned the sea of heather grey and beige we were swimming in.

I looked down at my own poor excuse for pajamas. A plain light grey t-shirt and plain grey shorts that were awkwardly long, coming down to my mid thigh. While it was comfortable enough, I wish I had something cute I could sleep in. It was nice to dress up once and while just for yourself.

"Alright inmates, hurry it up! Everyone outside your bunks in five seconds or I start handing out shots," corrections officer (or CO) Alto shouts.

"God, you'd think they'd know the drill by now. Plus Alto's still pissed from last week about the green bean incident," Lissa whispers to me.

"It's probably Avery and her meth head crew. They were all up late last night, drinking the hooch that Tasha made. They're probably nursing wicked hangovers right now," I whisper back, causing Lissa to giggle.

As if on cue, I hear Avery Lazar's nasally voice assuring CO Alto that she was indeed getting up.

"Alright inmates, shut up and stand still for count!" Alto shouts, making his way to the first set of bunkmates, clicking his little tool making sure we were all present.

When he passed me, he eyed me a little longer than necessary with a harsh stare, and clicked his clicker aggressively. Alto has never liked me because I was good at talking back, and he, unfortunately, was not as great with comebacks as me.

Once he was satisfied that no one had slipped away into the night and that we were all present, he stood back to the front of the room.

"All right ladies, breakfast time!" he said before shuffling away down the hall.

Yep. This was my life, and had been for a while now. My name is Rose Hathaway, and unfortunately for me, I was only halfway through my sentence here at St. Vladimir's Women's prison.

* * *

 **Good, bad? What do we think? I've posted up the first chapter as well since this one was fairly short.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay, so here goes the first official chapter. Let me know what you think!**

 **Chapter One: Creepy Fetishes About Women Behind Bars**

I picked at my food, which was what looked like eggs, a sad piece of toast and a hunk of cold, thick oatmeal. I sipped at my instant coffee, not caring I was burning my tongue as it was going down. I didn't exactly regret the things that I'd done, but I couldn't help the shitty feeling that enveloped me as I realized what day it was.

It was March 23, my twenty-first birthday. While other girls were preparing for a night of epic partying with shots and table dancing and cute outfits, I was an androgynous tan blob in the midst of a bunch of criminals, drinking my shit coffee while sitting next to a girl with an octopus tattoo on her neck.

Don't get me wrong, I was a criminal too. I fully owned up to what I had done, but I'd like to think my indiscretion was a little more moral that some of the other ladies here.

My cousin Meredith was my best friend. She came to visit me at the small liberal arts college I attended in Pennsylvania about a year and a half ago. She was eighteen at the time and I had just turned twenty, and against my better judgment, she begged me to take her to a "college" party.

She was so thrilled at the thought of being around cool college kids, and being around hot college guys that I couldn't say no to her. The party was fun and I refrained from drinking too much, knowing I had to watch Meredith, but somehow even with my watchful gaze she eluded me.

After searching the Frat house high and low, I finally found her in the room of the Frat's president, Nathan Taurus. At first, I wasn't sure what was going on until I heard her sniffling and meekly telling him to stop.

It's hard to win a rape case when the defendant's lawyer is smearing your name by talking about how much alcohol you had to drink that night. Meredith didn't have enough to black out or anything, but she was drunk, and so was Nathan.

It's even harder to win a rape case when the defendant's daddy was a rich lawyer himself. Nathan was never convicted, and the case never even went to a full trial. Apparently there wasn't enough physical evidence to rule out that what happened between Meredith and Nathan was consensual.

It was unfortunate that I had chosen so early into the rape to beat Nathan shitless with the baseball bat I found on the floor near his desk.

But Nathan's rich lawyer daddy did decide to press charges against me for assault in the third degree, which is why I'm here. I can't say I regret it though. Nathan had to have reconstructive surgery on his nose and face after I was done with him, and I also heard that he missed a whole season of baseball because I broke several of his ribs.

Kind of makes the year I had to spend at St. Vlad's worth it. Almost. It's what I deserve after bringing Meredith to that party and letting her out of my sight. If I had just watched her more carefully, just told her no from the start, she wouldn't be scarred for life, and I wouldn't have the label of convicted felon hovering over my back for the rest of my life.

"Cheer up babe, you're officially legal!" says my good friend Mia Rinaldi.

I look over at her, scanning her crazy blonde curls and bright blue eyes, and good-naturedly give her the finger.

Mia was a crazy skilled computer hacker, but that wasn't what landed her in here. Well, sort of. Mia was a genius with computers and could access information about anyone and anything. She was also a shopaholic, and spending other people's money is way easier than spending your own. She made one tiny mistake and landed herself in here for six years for credit card fraud. She was twenty-three and had already served four years of her sentence.

"I guess I am, huh? Maybe I could get Tasha to trade me some of her hooch tonight so we can celebrate," I say, laughing.

"Hells yeah!" Mia says, pumping her fist.

"Please, Rose, the last time we tried that I was sick for days," Lissa groans, making a disgusted face, while pushing her eggs around her plate.

"One shot, Liss. It's my birthday. Pleeeease?" I beg her.

"Fine fine. I hate that look you give me, you know I can't resist," she says as she rolls her eyes.

"So how does it feel to be twenty-one, Rose?" says another member of our little group, Sydney Sage. Sydney was twenty-two and was in for five years for arson. She was always fascinated with fire, and liked setting smalls ones and putting them out just to 'watch the light dance'. One day, at her all girl's private school, the small fire she started in the bathroom had gotten out of hand and almost burnt down half the school, leaving several girls with second degree burns and one girl in the hospital in a coma for several days from smoke inhalation.

She had never meant to hurt anyone. She was only seventeen when the incident happened, but they decided to try her as an adult since she had injured several other girls pretty severely.

"It feels the same as yesterday when I was twenty, Sage," I joke.

"Well, Happy Birthday either way," she says and smiles at me. Sydney was a sweet girl at heart and I truly believed when she said she never meant to hurt those girls. Sydney had shoulder-length straight ashy blonde hair and beautiful, golden brown eyes. I was glad I had met her, and I was glad that in the several years she had been here prison hadn't changed her much.

Just then, I see Jill approach with her tray. Jill Mastrano was the youngest of our group of youngsters, only being eighteen. She was still brand new here, only two months into her sentence. She had shaped up since she first got here, but sometimes she was still shaken and nervous. I could see her wild brown curls bouncing as she set her tray down, her green eyes scanning our table.

We had pulled Jill under our collective wing when she arrived those weeks ago, and became even more protective when we realized Lissa was friends with Jill's cousin Sonya.

The way things work around here, everyone sort of bands together in little tribes or cliques. It helps when you have friends in here and people to back you up if things get tough. Most cliques here are formed somewhat around race, but a lot of the women here were older adults, late twenties and beyond.

So race didn't really apply to our little group, as we banded together purely because we were all younger girls. I was our group's ethnic flair, being half Turkish half Scottish. Lissa liked to joke that I looked like a desert princess.

When I first arrived here, I was assigned to my bunk with Lissa, whose previous roommate Elena was moved over to the maximum-security prison. As Lissa had told me, Elena was in for a long long time for chopping off her husband's genitals with an axe. Apparently. Just before I arrived, she had stabbed another inmate in the eye with her dinner fork just because the bitch stole her pudding cup. Most of the women in here aren't particularly violent, but there are always the exceptions.

But, as fate would have it, that left Lissa without a roommate and me in need of a bunk. When Lissa and me first started talking, I hated her. She was a spoiled rich princess who was stupid enough to get caught for whatever she was doing, and apparently it had been one time too many. Not even her rich daddy could get her out of her sentence.

I saw her as a female form of Nathan, someone who's privilege could buy them out of any situation. But I quickly learned that she wasn't who I had made her out to be at all. Mia told me that her parents didn't even try to get her off. They left her to her 18-month sentence, hoping that it would change her. Mia didn't tell me what she was in for, as she really didn't know herself. Lissa had arrived only a week before I did.

But, I had read enough material and seen enough television to recognize withdrawals when I saw them. Lissa was a junkie. The first week I was there was awful for her, as she was in full-blown withdrawal mode, cut off from her drugs cold turkey. Holding her hair back as she threw up and rocking her as she cried and shook definitely bonded us for life, and we've been best friends ever since.

I never understood what pushed rich kids into doing drugs. I asked Lissa once, and she had said she was depressed. Her older brother Andre had passed away in a car accident the year before, and her parents pulled away from her afterwards. She was left in a huge empty house with absent parents and few friends, and she had turned to drugs because she had the money.

"I hear we're getting some new CO's today," Mia says, wagging her eyebrows while scooping the last bit of eggs off her tray.

"How do you eat this stuff, Mia? It tastes like sawdust," Jill asks her, stabbing around her plate with her utensils.

"I've been here for four years, babe. This is the best it's gonna get. I love eating and I'm not gonna let the fact that this tastes like shit get me down," Mia answers, winking at Jill.

"How do you know we're getting new CO's?" I ask, eyeing Alto from across the room. As if he possessed a sixth sense, he turned my way and scowled at me.

"Alto's wife is about to pop. He's taking paternity leave, or so I heard," she answers me.

"Where do you get your information from Mia? I swear you're like the TMZ of St. Vlad's!" Lissa laughs.

"A good investigator never reveals her sources!" Mia says, standing up with her tray laughing, setting it with the other dishes and sitting back down at the table.

"Was it Mason? Fucking Ashford's mouth is even bigger than yours Mia. When you get out of here you two gossip mongers should start a magazine," I say, talking about my favorite guard Mason Ashford. I worked in electrical with him, and he was one of the only guards in here that treated me like a person. We have our own little joking thing going, and I actually enjoyed my work duty because he was there.

"Maaaaybe. You know, I have to admit he's been looking hotter and hotter lately. I think he's been going to the gym," Mia says, letting out a satisfied sigh.

"Oh gross. Please don't tell me you have the hots for Mason. Actually, I'm going to tell him, it'll totally make his day!"

"Tell him whatever you want Rose. I haven't had sex in four years. A little eye candy never hurt anyone," Mia jokes again, while Jill chokes on her oatmeal.

"She's right. You know, that Christian guy who teaches the cooking class isn't bad looking," Lissa says innocently.

"Shut up Liss! You've totally been crushing on him for months! I see you staring at him all starry-eyed every time we pair up in class," Sydney chimes in.

"Ugh! I do not get starry-eyed, Sydney. She's exaggerating," Lissa tells the table.

"Wait, wait. Is this Christian guy tall and kind of lanky? Black hair, blue eyes?" I ask Sydney, knowing Lissa is too embarrassed to answer.

"Yes! That's him," Sydney says.

"Nice, Liss. He's totally cute. I can see why you're hot for him," I tell her.

"I'm not hot for him, okay? I just think he's good looking. It's not like anything can happen between us anyways. I'm incarcerated, remember? And he probably just does this so that it'll look good on his resume. He'd never be interested in me," Lissa finishes dejectedly.

"Alright ladies, trays up! No food items leave this room. Everyone up and off to work duty!" another CO, Croft, yells.

We all shuffle out of the room grumbling and dumping out our trays along the way. I was excited about getting to see Mason, but I still hated people controlling my schedule every day.

I bid my goodbyes to my group as Mia made her way to the library where she worked, Lissa and Sydney head off to custodial duty, and Jill and I head over to the warehouse area where those who worked in electrical went.

As far as prison jobs went, electrical wasn't so bad. It wasn't as cushy as Mia's job putting books in order in the library, where she mostly got to nap, but it was definitely better than mopping and cleaning toilets that Lissa and Sydney got saddled with. And on the plus side, I was shit at anything technological before. I could barely turn on my laptop, but now I could fix a spark plug in a microwave.

"Hey Mase, you're looking particularly redheaded today," I chime, as I walk into the empty room and spot Mason with his feet kicked up on the table reading a magazine.

"And you're looking particularly ravishing in your beige scrubs today, Hathaway," Mason jokes, putting down his magazine to smile at me. I would guess Mason was probably anywhere from 22-26, but his baby face threw me off. I had a feeling he was a little older than I suspected, but I had never asked him.

"How old are you Mason?" I ask.

"Twenty five. Why?" He asks.

"Just curious," I say honestly.

"It's Rose's birthday today," Jill says from behind me, already sitting at our table, smiling.

"Oh shit, it is? I was saving this for my lunch, but damn, Hathaway. Happy Birthday!" he says, as he fishes something out of a paper bag on the floor.

"Holy fuck is that a chocolate donut?" I say, my mouth already watering.

"You bet your ass it is. Now eat it quickly before the rest of the girls get in here, I don't want them bitching about me playing favorites."

I took the donut from his hands quickly and make my way to my table over with Jill. I stare at the donut for a few seconds under the table, like it'll disappear if I have it for too long, before ripping it in half. I handed the smaller of the two pieces to Jill, and she mildly protests before realizing she's holding a piece of heaven in her hands, and scarfs it down quickly while I do the same.

After devouring the delicious piece of heaven that Mason so graciously gifted me, I wiped my hands quickly on my depressing beige pants before moving my eyes to my work station. Today's exciting work adventure looked like I had to attempt to fix the wiring in a broken lamp.

"Any luck with that yet?" I asked Jill who was working on her own broken lamp.

"Rose, you're speaking to the girl who doesn't even know how to work a blow dryer. I'm still not sure how I ended up in electrical and not custodial or kitchen duty," she jokes.

"Well…I guess you can't really make it worse since it's already broken. Plus, you're learning real life skills for when we get out of here," I joke back with her.

I look up from the wires I'm pretty sure I'm tangling even worse than before to see most of the members of the electrical crew had arrived.

"Hathaway!" Mason calls out, the friendliness from earlier now gone due to the other's presence in the room.

"Yes, Officer Ashford?" I answer.

"Where are Dashkov and Lazar?" he asks me, pointing to the two empty seats a couple rows behind me.

"Hungover, probably puking their guts out," I mumble under my breath.

"What was that?" he asked.

"How should I know? I'm not their keeper. I saw them this morning for count but I don't know if they were at breakfast," I answer back, my tone neutral.

He nods at me, acknowledging that he heard my answer before grabbing his radio on his shoulder.

"CO Ashford here, does anyone have eyes on Natalie Dashkov or Avery Lazar?" he speaks into the radio.

" _I just sent em your way. They were lollygagging in the B Dorm bathroom_ ," I hear someone respond over the radio. It sounded like CO Castille.

"Thanks," Mason replies, and looks expectantly towards the door.

A couple minutes later, Natalie and Avery come bursting through the door, giggling like fiends. Natalie was similar in age to my little group, but we made a point not to include her. Girl was, in simple terms, a crazy bitch. She was a druggie, a meth head to be more specific, and people who did meth did some crazy shit. Rumor has it that she ripped the throat out of one of her teachers with her teeth while she was high. I'm not sure why she was even in minimum security to be perfectly honest. Although I'd never seen her get violent, who knew what she was really capable of.

Tossing her scraggly black hair over her shoulder, Natalie's green eyes locked with mine and narrowed. She had tried to befriend us, but we made sure to steer clear of her.

"Sorry we're late CO Ashford," she said in a sickly sweet voice, her nasty brown and yellow teeth showing in her mouth.

"Just go to your work stations before I give you both a shot," Mason replied curtly.

Behind Natalie, Avery smirked. Avery was older than us by a few years, around twenty-seven I would guess, and was the leader of their little drugged up crew. She looked like someone who would've been really pretty had circumstances been different. She was tall and skinny, and had long brown hair that was lank and dull from not being taken care of. She also had bright blue eyes framed by thick lashes, but her face was sallow and bony. She also had teeth customary to most long-term meth users, stained brown and yellow and generally looking like they came from the mouth of a colonial peasant.

Natalie and Avery both made their way back to their respective work stations, Avery making sure to bump into me and Jill's table and she passed.

"Bitch," I mumble under my breath.

A couple hours passed as I continue to tinker with my lamp, not really making any progress. I was okay with microwaves now, but lamps were another story.

Grabbing my screwdriver under the guise of checking the tool back in with Mason, I make my way up towards the front.

"Hey, Mase. I heard talk that we were getting some new COs soon. Know anything about that?" I whisper.

"Man, Mia has a big mouth doesn't she?" he whispers back, shaking his head.

"Come on, Ashford. What's the scoop?" I beg, making my eyes wide and pouting my lips.

"Fuck, Rose. You know I can't resist that face. Alto told me we'd be getting some new COs in tomorrow morning. Three, I think. Two dudes and a lady officer," he says.

"Three? Why do we need three more? Its only Alto taking paternity leave right?" I say.

"Yeah, but Warden Kirova wants to crack down. She doesn't want any more shit going down like the green bean incident. She wants more quality control," he tells me.

"Great. Just when I thought I had a good reading on the COs here, I get three more to add to the mix," I say and roll my eyes.

It made life easier in here when you knew what COs were cool and which weren't. There were those you could joke with, like Mason and occasionally his good friend Eddie Castille, although Castille was a little more strict and rule abiding. Then there was Stan, who wasn't unfair in his treatment per se, but he wasn't very friendly or very nice either. There was another guard, some Greek guy, who I hadn't run into very often because he mostly patrolled the dorms on the other side of camp from us. I think his name was Spiridon or Sparta or something. Then there was CO Croft, who, like Alto, was sort of a hardass but was a little bit nicer. There were several other guards who patrolled throughout the camp, but I didn't run into them often enough to really remember their names or temperament.

I sat back down and continued to work on my lamp, and before I knew it, it was time for dinner.

Me and Jill and others from electrical made our way to the cafeteria, and stood in line to get our trays. As we made our way towards the front, I noticed the head of the kitchen, Galina, keeping a watchful eye over her kitchen staff. Galina, or Red, as most people called her, was in her late thirties and took great pride in running the kitchen here at St. Vlad's. She had been in prison for over ten years now, and I'd heard rumors that she was involved with the Russian mob. I'm pretty sure that's where her nickname Red came from.

After Jill and I were handed our trays, holding something that looked like chicken in a brown sauce, peas, a piece of bread and a cup of jello, we made our way to our usual table, where Lissa and Sydney already sat.

"What happened to your shirt?" I ask Lissa, noticing that she wasn't wearing her beige top to match her pants, but just a plain gray t-shirt that she usually wore underneath.

"Toilet mishap," Sydney laughed while Lissa rolled her eyes and ripped the crust off her bread with unnecessary force.

"So it has been confirmed with my favorite redheaded CO that we will, in fact, be receiving three new COs tomorrow morning," I announce to the table just as Mia arrives.

"Three?! Why three?" Lissa asks.

"Because Warden Kirova wants to crack down on us unruly inmates," I say jokingly.

"I'd hardly say we're unruly," Sydney says.

"Are they all men? I'm in need of some new eye candy. Croft is the only CO who patrols the library, and while he's got that whole silver fox thing going on, he's such a hardass. So not fun to flirt with," Mia says.

"You've actually tried flirting with Officer Croft? How'd that go down?" Jill asks Mia.

"Well secretly I think he was flattered that a young, hot inmate such as myself was complimenting him," Mia says.

"And…?" I ask, knowing there's more to the story.

"And he gave me a shot and told me to address him as Officer Croft only," Mia says, rolling her eyes and pouting.

"Wait, what did you call him?" Sydney asks, eyes wide.

"It may have been something along the lines of Officer Sexy, but I swear to god he looked totally flattered for a second!" Mia insists, causing our whole table to burst out into laughter.

After dinner had been finished and we had been released from the cafeteria, we made our way to our respective bunks where we were free to do what we pleased until lights out at 9:30pm. I for one wanted a shower. If I showered in the morning, one, it was more crowded and two, my hair would never dry. It was best to let it dry overnight or else my shirt and my back would be damp all day. I loved my thick, dark brown locks that reached the middle of my back, but sometimes they were a bitch to deal with when I had no styling tools to work with.

I had inherited my dark brown hair from my Turkish father, along with my golden skin tone and chocolate brown eyes. Everything else, including my toned physique that still held ample curves, came from my mother. Lissa was constantly commenting on how jealous she was of my figure. Even though we were both around 5'7'', she was model thin and wasn't really all that curvy. Still, she had a figure other girls would die for.

Grabbing my shower gear, I made my way to the mostly empty B Dorm shower area. Only one other person was using a stall. As quickly as I could, I lathered up my hair and washed it, enjoying the feeling of the hot water running down my body before the water got cold. I finished my shower and dried off my body quickly, slipping on my pajama t-shirt and shorts. I kept my hair up in my towel as I made my way back to my bunk, stopping to chat with Mia and Sydney before I flopped down on my bed. Jill shared a bunk with Camille Conta, another inmate around our age who stuck with the drug users, but they were at the very end of the hall. I looked over at Lissa who was reading Pride and Prejudice in her bunk.

"So, have you seen your sexy Chef lately?" I ask her, bending over the edge of my bed to dry my hair with my towel.

"Rose, please. I only see him on Tuesdays and Thursdays when we have class. I haven't seen him since last week, not that it matters," she scoffs, not even looking up from her book.

"You liiiiike him," I tease, whipping her legs lightly with my towel.

"Rose! I'm trying to read in peace here," she says, closing her book and glaring at me.

"Lissa you've read that book like four times since we've been here. I'm pretty sure the plot is the same as last time," I say, continuing to pester her.

"Look, I'm serious. Next time you see him, compliment him and see if he flirts back. You never know, he could be one of those guys who has a creepy fetish about women behind bars," I say, mostly joking.

She gave me one last glare before picking her book back up and ignoring me for the rest of the night. As I lay there in my bunk trying to fall asleep, I couldn't help but wonder about the new COs that would be arriving tomorrow. I had a feeling some big changes were headed our way.

* * *

 **Next chapter is a little taste of Officer Belikov and the other new guards! Reviews are always welcome!**

 **And just in case anyone was curious, the title of each OITNB episode comes from a line of dialogue from the episode itself, so I'm trying to emulate that here as well with my weird chapter names.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here goes chapter two! Sorry it's a little short compared to the first. I've pretty much written out the first four chapters but I'm going back and editing them slowly, so I should be able to update pretty consistently.**

 **Chapter Two: Subpar Prison Gruel**

The next morning, the wakeup call rang out loud and clear like it usually did at six o'clock sharp. There was a chorus of grumbles and moans as the various inmates clambered out of their beds. I myself was already wide awake, as I had trouble sleeping the night before and was already awake when the wakeup call rang out.

Without needing to be told, everyone made their way out of bed to stand at the outside of their bunks for count. I saw Lissa untangle herself sleepily from her sheets before leaning against the wall next to me.

Instead of CO Alto standing up at the front for count like usual, there was a female CO there that I had never seen before. She was wearing the standard officer's uniform, but her shirt was white instead of blue. Only Alto's uniform included a white shirt, because he was captain. She had a cropped Pixie cut and she looked to be in her late forties, although I could tell from here that she was still very physically fit. Standing next to her was a younger male officer, probably mid-twenties, who had reddish brown hair and was very good looking. Mia would be pleased.

"Listen up inmates. My name is Officer Alberta Petrov, and I'll be standing in as Captain while Officer Alto takes his leave. This here is Officer Jesse Zeklos. We have one other new CO who will be joining us shortly. Now, everyone outside their bunks for count!" she says.

After quickly and efficiently assessing that all of us were present, while CO Zeklos stood watching at the front, smirking, Petrov moved back up to the front of the room.

"Ah, here he is now. Inmates, this is the last new CO who will be joining us. This is Officer Dimitri Belikov," she says, gesturing to a very tall man who had just walked into the dorm.

I had to fight hard to keep my jaw from dropping. Officer Belikov was the most attractive man I had ever seen in my life. He had medium-length brown hair that was tied back away from his face, beautiful chocolate brown eyes, and had a perfectly lean, muscular physique. Well, from what I could tell from his uniform at least. He was also exceedingly tall, probably about 6'5'' if I had to guess. Someone wolf-whistled.

"If I am not available and you need to make a report to someone, Officer Belikov here is the one whom you should report to. Now that introductions have been made, everyone is free to make their way to breakfast," Petrov says, effectively dismissing us.

The COs turned and made their way out of our dorm, presumably to go make introductions and do count for the other dorms. As we made our walk to the cafeteria, our group congregated in a disorderly blob that dominated the hallway.

"Did. You. See. Them?!" Mia screeches into my ear, holding on to my upper arm and shaking me.

"You know, I'm not usually one to check out the COs but even I can appreciate what we just saw. I don't know who was better looking, Officer Zeklos or Belikov," Sydney gushes.

"I know, right?! Like, if there was a sexy CO calendar, those men would definitely be in it. Even Petrov would make the cut. She was pretty hot, in like, an older woman type of way," Mia continues.

"You know, I did notice that. She even has that sexy little tattoo on the back of her neck, did anyone else see that?" Lissa chimes in.

As my friends continued to jabber on about the new guards, I kept silent. I was still in a daze over how attractive I thought Officer Belikov was. I bet he wasn't older than thirty. I wonder if I acted especially suspicious in the hallway if he would give me a pat down…

When we arrived in the cafeteria, the place was abuzz with chatter, probably about the delectable new guards that we'd all just been introduced to. I smirked as I heard some of the comments, ranging from complimentary to just plain obscene. Most were about Zeklos and Belikov, but I heard a scattered few about Petrov as well, seeing as there were plenty of women in here who were gay or bisexual, or, like Mia, could simply appreciate another good-looking woman.

Even Red, who was usually standing stoically watching over her kitchen crew, seemed distracted by the news of the new guards.

As I sat eating with my friends, I suddenly felt like I was being watched. Sure enough, when I looked around me, I saw Officer Jesse Zeklos staring unwaveringly at our table. As attractive as he was, there was something off about him. If I were to run into him at a bar or somewhere outside of prison, I would probably be turned off by the cocky smirk that seemed to be plastered to his face. As if sensing I was looking at him, he locked eyes with me, his smirk widening even further as he checked me out.

Turning away from him, annoyed, I continued to eat my sad excuse for oatmeal and coffee, all the while feeling like Zeklos was still watching me.

Unlike CO Belikov, Zeklos didn't appear to be very muscular. Although he was tall, it seemed to me like he was more lanky than muscled. All in all, Jesse Zeklos looked like he just stepped out of a Gap Ad. It seemed strange to me that he'd be a prison guard, and I wondered why he wasn't off using his good looks somewhere else.

The way he looked around in such an arrogant manner like he owned the place was an instant turn off. Yeah, he was hot, but that was all just on the surface. I wondered if this was some sort of weird power trip for him, being in control of all these women. Or, maybe I was just judging him too harshly. Maybe his face just looked like that.

The day passed by quickly for once, as everyone was still excited about the newcomers. My time in electrical seemed to fly by, as I think I was finally getting the hang of rewiring the lamp I was working on. I even got the bulb to turn on for a few moments before it went out again.

Shortly before dinner I had my counseling appointment that I had every month, like most of the other inmates did. My counselor was Dr. Olendzki, an older woman who served as one of the on staff psychologists here. I hated going to counseling, but Dr. Olendenski wasn't too bad. Much better than Dr. Meisner, who both Mia and Sydney had, who apparently was in a constantly pissed off mood.

"So, Rose," Dr. Olendzki began, "How are you doing lately?"

"Just fine, doc," I answer. If we talked for too long I might miss the beginning of dinner, and I was not a fan of missing meals.

"How do you feel you're adjusting here?" she asked me, looking up from her clipboard full of notes in my file.

"Well. I've been here for six months now, I think I've adjusted fairly well by now," I say. My tone was clipped, but not unfriendly. I just wanted my food.

"I see that. I see you have a nice little group of friends, including Ms. Mastrano now," she says factually.

"Yeah, Jill's a good kid. I like her a lot," I answer.

"It's nice to see that even though you're incarcerated, you're expanding your social circle," she tells me.

"Well it's pretty easy to expand your social circle when your only friend from outside is your cousin," I say jokingly, even though it was true.

"Precisely. What about the prison environment do you think has you becoming more social?" she asks me.

Huh, did I even know how to answer this question? Before I was in prison, Meredith was pretty much my only friend. Sure, I had acquaintances here and there in high school, boyfriends occasionally, but no one that I really opened up to. Plus, I had a pretty fiery personality. I liked to argue with people a lot.

College was even worse because I had bigger classes and with different people every day. I really didn't have any friends while I was there, I mostly preferred to spend time alone in my apartment or I went home on the weekends to see Meredith and my parents.

"I guess...maybe just the environment in general. If you don't have friends in here, you don't have anything," I answer honestly.

"And why is that?"

"Well…every day is the same. If I didn't have anyone to connect with I'd go insane," I say, just now realizing that I probably would.

"Interesting. Do you think the friendships you've made in here will last?" she asks me, jotting more notes down on her clipboard.

"Yes. Absolutely. Lissa is my best friend. And Mia and Jill and Sydney, I could never forget about them," I say with absolute confidence.

"By Lissa, you're referring to Vasilisa Dragomir?" she asks politely.

"Yes. She's my bunkmate, but I'm sure you know that."

"And why do you think you connect with Ms. Dragomir so well?" she asks me.

"Because I just do. Everything about us is opposite. She's light, I'm dark. She's quiet, I'm loud. She's polite, I'm…honest. But we balance each other out. I tell her what she needs to hear, and she calms me down. I swear, sometimes it's like I can tell exactly what she's thinking or feeling I can read her so well," I say, not sure why I'm sharing so much with her. Dr. Olendenski was a nice lady and all, but I wouldn't be here if I wasn't required to be.

"Well, I'm glad you've found someone who can be there for you. I think that'll be all for today, Rose. You've made some good progress. And you don't want to miss your dinner," she says, smirking. Everyone knows I love my food, even if it's subpar prison gruel.

As I made my way down the hall from Dr. Olendzki's office to the cafeteria, I slowed as I saw CO Belikov exit an office in the hallway ahead of me. My god that man was, well, a god. He closed and locked the door while I stood there in the hallway watching him like a stalker. I noticed that his hair was down and almost touched his shoulders.

With his back still turned away from me, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a thin hair tie, restraining his gorgeous hair into a short ponytail. I could see his well-defined muscles moving underneath his uniform shirt.

I'm pretty sure I made a noise or let out some sort of sound, as he turned around swiftly and his eyes widened as he took in my presence. His eyes looked me up and down quickly, not checking me out but more likely assessing what I was doing there in the hallway gaping at him like a fish.

"What are you doing inmate…" he started.

"Hathaway," I supplied for him.

"Inmate Hathaway, then. Why are you standing in the hall? Shouldn't you be making your way to the dining hall?" he said. I noticed his words were laced with a light accent, Russian, I would guess. He also spoke very plainly, neither friendly nor unfriendly.

"I was at a meeting with my counselor, sir. I'm heading there now," I say, trying not to squeal at how sexy his voice sounded. I still hadn't moved from my spot.

"Okay, well, get a move on then," he says, motioning with his arm for me to make my way down the hall.

I scurried into action, moving my frozen legs as I walked quickly past him, smelling his divine scent as I passed. God, how did he manage to smell so good in a prison?

As I neared the end of the hall and made to turn left to get to the cafeteria, I chanced a look back in his direction to see if he was still there.

He was standing still near his office where he had stopped to question me and was looking at me inquisitively. I blushed, actually blushed, before continuing on my way to the cafeteria, not stopping to revel in the fact that he was watching me.

* * *

 **A/N: I know Dimitri is 6'7'' in the books, but that just seems SO tall to me. I actually know someone who's that tall and it's just so overwhelming because I'm short, so I made my fantasy Dimitri a tiny bit shorter too. But anyways, there's your first little taste of CO Belikov and the rest of the new guards! Reviews would be lovely :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I realize I forgot to specify what exactly a 'shot' was if you don't know what it is already. It's basically like a slang term for getting written up, and it goes on your record. The punishment for a shot depends on what you did, using foul language with a guard, theft, assault, etc. Anyways, Chapter three!**

 **Chapter Three: Mumbo Jumbo on the Hot New Guard**

That night when I made my way to my bunk after my shower, I was still riding on a high from talking with Officer Belikov. Although we had only exchanged a few sentences, I was still thrilled that he now knew my name. That, and he wasn't immediately a douche. Most guards who aren't going to be friendly usually reveal themselves right off the bat. CO Belikov seemed like he might actually be nice.

"What are you all smiley for?" Lissa asked, looking up from where she was reading on her bunk.

"No reason," I say, hanging my towel over the metal headboard of my bed.

"No, you've been smiling like that since dinner. I thought maybe it was because we got pudding tonight instead of jello, but the vanilla flavor really isn't that good. What's up, Rose?" she asks me, setting her book completely aside.

Damn her. As much as I bragged about being able to read her really well, she could read me almost equally as well.

"I talked to that new guard today," I tell her, testing the waters.

"Which one? Officer Zeklos?" she asks, tilting her head curiously.

"No, the other one. Dimitri Belikov," I say. "The taller one," I add, even though she probably knew who I meant just from me denying it was Officer Zeklos.

"Oh, him? He's gorgeous. He seems like he'd be quiet though. Older too." she says.

"He's not old. Or he can't be older than thirty I don't think. But still, that's not old," I say.

"That's true. Anyways, what did you two talk about?" she asks curiously.

"Um, nothing I guess. I mean I ran into him on the way back from Olendzki's office. He just asked me where I was going," I tell her.

"That's it? He asked where you were going?" she questions me.

"Yeah. Well he asked for my name too and then told me to go to dinner," I finish lamely.

"And you're smiling like that because?" she laughs.

"I honestly don't know, Liss. Oh! He has like a really slight Russian accent, but when I heard it I almost keeled over. It was so sexy," I gush to her.

"Ooh, that does sound interesting. Maybe he'll be patrolling near custodial tomorrow and I can get him to talk."

We continued talking about Dimitri for a bit, before switching to her current fictional love interest, Christian Ozera, the volunteer chef who taught classes here twice a week. After convincing her to lightly flirt with him in class, she agreed that maybe she would try the next day when the class would take place. After we chatted for a bit longer, we both fell asleep somewhere around ten thirty.

When I awoke for count, it was just CO Zeklos there. As he patrolled up and down the bunks, clicking his instrument, I eyed him warily. When he got to me, he paused in front of me, taking several seconds longer than he had done with the others. He eyed me up and down, definitely checking me out. He smirked and moved on to Lissa, doing the same to her, Mia, Sydney, Jill, and several other women in our dorm. Shortly afterwards, he released us for breakfast.

"Okay, who else thought that was kind of creepy?" I ask everyone as we're walking to the dining hall.

"Thought what was creepy?" Jill asks innocently.

"CO Zeklos' wandering eyes," I say, rolling mine.

"Rose, he's trapped around like a couple hundred women every day, he's bound to check some of us out," Mia says. Of course, she was probably loving the attention.

"I don't know, I get kind of an icky vibe from him as well," Lissa adds. That's my girl!

"Liss, for the last time, reading auras isn't a real thing. Stop trying to push your mumbo jumbo on the hot new guard," Mia laughs.

"It's not mumbo jumbo, and I didn't say anything about that. He just seemed kind of creepy to me as well," Lissa clarifies. Lissa claimed she could see people's auras, but that was a story for another day.

"Whatever, looking doesn't hurt anyone, and trust me I am looking," Mia says wagging her eyebrows. Man, that girl was sexually frustrated.

As we sat down for breakfast, I kept my eyes peeled for CO Belikov. I'm not sure why I was developing this mild obsession with him. We had hardly spoken two words to each other, but I had never been this attracted to anyone before. Sure, I had had a few short-term boyfriends, but that was mostly to have someone to make out with at parties in high school. I'd never seriously dated anyone or been this attracted to a man before. Not that I had any actual chance of doing anything resembling dating with Officer Belikov.

As I was about to stuff a piece of waffle in my mouth, I felt Lissa nudge me. Looking at her wondering why she was interrupting my meal, I noticed that she had seen Officer Belikov entering the cafeteria. I unabashedly stared at him as he made his way to the middle of the room and took his post near the wall to watch everyone, not having noticed I was watching him.

I watched him sporadically throughout the rest of my meal. He was so stoic. Not once did he move or twitch, he just stood there aptly, watching the room as if it was the most important job in the world. I guess he was one of those people who took anything they did seriously. It was an admirable quality, one I didn't possess myself.

When it was time for us to be dismissed for work duty, I trudged off reluctantly with Jill.

When we arrived at electrical Mason motioned for us to go talk to him.

"How are we today, ladies?" Mason asked in a friendly voice.

"Good. They had waffles for breakfast!" Jill says excitedly.

"Damn, really? I wonder if they have any left, I love me some waffles," Mason remarks.

"I see that empty McDonalds bag underneath your chair, Ashford, don't be a pig," I laugh.

"Yeah, yeah. So, how are you feeling the new guards?" he asks.

"They're okay," Jills says. "They're all really good looking," she adds.

"Yes, I have heard quite a few comments from you pent up, sexually frustrated hound dogs. Come on, are me and Castile not enough eye candy for you?" he asks and winks.

Jill blushes. I wonder if she has a crush on Mason.

"New eye candy doesn't hurt, Mase. And trust me, a certain 6'5'' Dimitri Belikov definitely doesn't hurt," I say, and wink at him.

"Oooh, so we like our men foreign made, do we?" he jokes with me, and Jill laughs.

"Wait, is he actually from Russia, then?" I question.

"Who knows. I've barely been introduced to the guy, but I did hear his accent. He's a tall dude, I'll tell you that," he says, as if it wasn't obvious.

"Yeah, I got that," I say, laughing.

After that, Jill and I take our seats and resume working on our lamps. I had almost gotten mine repaired, I think. Who knew, really. I don't even know if Mason knew much about fixing things like this. I had spaced out for around 15 minutes, I think, when I heard a light tap on the door.

"CO Ashford?" I hear a quiet voice say.

I look up and see Officer Belikov standing in the doorway.

"Officer Belikov, step into my office," Mason gestures grandly.

"I was told to come to over here. Inmate Conta has contracted some sort of stomach virus and can't drive the van today. I was told that you could spare someone from electrical," CO Belikov says.

"Yeah, of course. Take Hathaway, she's doing that lamp no good anyways, and she'll be good for van duty," Mason says, smirking at me.

"Hey! I got the bulb to turn on the other day. I'm not totally useless," I tell Mason, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Yeah yeah. Get your ass up, Hathaway. You've got van duty today," he says, and beside me Jill giggles.

I abandon my lamp immediately and stand, making my way over to where CO Belikov is standing. Without saying anything, he turns on his heel and leaves the room, expecting me to follow, and I do. We walk down the hall silently, and I go with him to the front desk where he checks out the keys for the van.

We're silent until he leads me to a plain, white work van and hands me the keys. I head to the driver's side and get in, putting the keys into the ignition to start the vehicle.

"Where are we headed, Comrade?" I ask him.

He gives me a funny look at the mention of the nickname I'd just decided to grace him with, but doesn't comment.

"We need to go into town. There's a new collection of books for the library that came in, and we need to go pick them up," he answers.

"I see," I say, trailing off awkwardly.

"Are you going to drive?" he asks, noting that I have yet to move the car.

"Um...I don't know where to go. I've never driven the van before, and I lived in Philly before. I don't really know my way around town," I say, embarrassed.

"Oh. I'm sorry, that was my mistake. I assumed you knew, but you've never driven the van before, correct?" he asks.

"Right. I'm a good driver though, I swear," I promise him, feeling the need to prove myself.

"Okay. Well, just head out of camp and make a left then. We'll stay on the feeder road that leads into town for a bit," he says, all business.

I proceed to pull the car out of the lot and leave the prison behind for a quaint road surrounded by trees on both sides. We drive in a somewhat awkward silence for a while.

"So, you're new?" I ask him, as if it wasn't obvious.

"Yes," he answers briskly.

A few more moments of silence pass. But, of course, with my big mouth I couldn't stop talking.

"Where did you work before this? Was it down at St. Basils? I heard they have a lot more girls down there," I say, referencing the other women's prison near here where many women got transferred to and from.

"No," he answers. I wait to see if he'll say more, but he doesn't.

"Okay. Well, was it another prison?" I say, trying to force some semblance of conversation out of him.

"No," he says again. I'm completely baffled by him. He's not being unfriendly with his answers, but he doesn't seem to want to talk.

"I'm sorry. I was just trying to be nice. I talk a lot, obviously. You can just ignore me if you want," I ramble on laughing, a little peeved that I was in for several hours of silence with this gorgeous man.

We continue driving on the road for a bit. The scenery was nice. We were in Pennsylvania so there were lots of trees and foliage all around that I didn't get to see daily when I was inside the prison or in the designated outside areas.

"Before this, I was a bodyguard," Officer Belikov answers out of nowhere. Wow, a bodyguard? No wonder he was so intense. He was used to having someone's life and death in his hands.

"Wow," I say. "For a celebrity or something?"

"No. It was a man a couple years younger than me. He wasn't famous in the traditional sense. We were friends," CO Belikov answers.

"How old are you?" I ask.

"Twenty-seven," he says. I don't know why he was so quick to answer my questions now but I wasn't going to let the opportunity pass.

"I was right, then. My friend Lissa thought you might've been older," I tell him.

"You and your friends talk about me?" he said curiously, like he couldn't believe anyone would be interested.

"Sorry, it's not as weird as it sounds. You new COs are like the most exciting thing to happen to us in a while," I answer. "Anyways, why did you stop being a bodyguard? That sounds way cooler than working at a women's prison," I continue.

"I…quit. I was uncomfortable with some of the things my boss asked of me," he replies, as if he wasn't sure he should be telling me this.

"Why couldn't you have just told him no? If he was your friend," I say, looking over at him as he gestured for me to make a right.

"I worked for his father, technically, not him," Officer Belikov answers.

"What, was he like some mob boss or something?" I joke, laughing at myself.

Officer Belikov is silent, and as we had just come to a stoplight, I looked over at him. He was staring straight ahead at the light.

"Wait, am I right? Did you work for some crime boss protecting his kid?" I said incredulously. I had really been just joking before, not knowing I had actually guessed right.

"It wasn't as bad as it sounds. Really, they were both good people involved in a bad business. Ivan, the man I protected, didn't even want to be involved but I was hired to protect him anyways," he finally tells me.

"Wow. That sounds like something out of a movie," I say. I wonder what they asked him to do that made him want to leave.

"It wasn't anything like a movie. Being responsible for someone's life is a huge responsibility," he says solemnly.

"You're responsible for all of us here now. Isn't that worse?" I say. Watching over 200 women had to be way more responsibility than just one man.

"It is in a way. But no one is actively seeking to kill any of you. I just have to make sure you don't put yourselves or others at risk during your day to day routine," he answers me.

"Do you still talk to him? The guy you guarded?" I ask, truly wanting to know.

"No. Ivan was killed," he says tightly.

I tense, not knowing what to say. It can't have been on his watch, if he left because of differences with his boss and not his charge's death.

"I'm—I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked," I say, hoping I didn't just ruin his day.

"You didn't know," he says, and we don't really talk again until we get to the library.

On the way back after Officer Belikov had loaded the books into the back, the drive was silent for the first thirty minutes or so.

"It wasn't your fault, if you left," I say quietly. I wasn't a huge fan of silence, and I was even more upset that I had upset Officer Belikov. I wanted to fix it.

"Hmm?" he asks me, as he was looking out the window not paying attention to me before.

"Um, it wasn't your fault that Ivan died. I just thought…I don't know. I just thought I'd tell you that," I finish awkwardly.

He stares at me, not in a creepy sort of way like Officer Zeklos, though. I felt like he was looking right through me. If I wasn't driving, I would've stared right back at him. He looks like he wants to say something, but he doesn't, and returns to looking out at the window.

Overall, van duty was pretty sweet. I could understand now why many people coveted Camille's position. I had always enjoyed driving, it was relaxing to me. I was sad that this would be a one-time thing, especially since Officer Belikov might be the one accompanying the van driver on a daily basis. As I was enjoying the scenery and the general relaxed atmosphere away from the prison, Belikov's voice pulled me out of my musings.

"I'm sorry, did you say something? I kind of zoned out," I apologize.

"Yes, sorry. I just asked how old you were," he asks me in that quiet but strong voice of his.

"Oh. Um, I actually just turned twenty-one a couple days ago," I say bashfully, not wanting to make it seem like I was asking for a birthday acknowledgement.

"That's an important birthday," he says simply.

"I guess. Maybe if I wasn't here I'd do something exciting but it's really not that big of a deal," I shrug, still keeping my hands on the wheel.

"You didn't celebrate with your friends?" he asks, seeming curious.

"Are you a narc, CO Belikov? I heard if you ask someone if they're a narc they have to tell you," I joke with him.

"Far from it," he says, and smiles a little. I take great pride in knowing I made him smile a bit. He doesn't seem like someone who smiled or joked around a lot.

"Well, we did celebrate a bit. Nothing big. Mas—Officer Ashford gave me a donut, which was nice. I know he's not supposed to but Jill told him it was my birthday," I say, hoping I didn't get Mason into trouble.

"That was nice of him," he replies.

"It was chocolate glazed too, my favorite," I say, smiling at the memory.

"I always preferred the Bavarian crème myself," Officer Belikov says.

"Of course you pick the most Eastern European sounding donut," I tease him.

"They're actually French," he replies.

"Sorry, just with your last name and your accent I thought it was funny. Where are you from? Sorry if that's rude to ask, I'm just curious," I say, hoping I'm not overstepping my bounds.

"Russia. My family emigrated here when I was nine. That's why my accent isn't that thick," he says, his accent barely coming out with that sentence.

"Wow. Do you miss it? That's a big move. I'm half Turkish and half Scottish but I've never been to either of those countries," I tell him as I slow down to go over a speed bump.

"I miss it often. It's very different from here. I've been in America more than half my life but I still remember how the air smelled over there, if that makes sense," he says nostalgically.

"No I definitely understand that. I used to live in Montana before we moved here. The air there was more fresh. It smelled like trees," I say, remembering the Montana wilderness.

Just then, I noticed we had arrived back at camp. I pulled into the lot and parked the van back where me and Officer Belikov had taken it out after we went through security. I sat there for a few seconds with the car still on, not wanting to get out.

"Come on. I suppose you have an hour or so left in electrical," he says, unbuckling his seat belt and getting out of the car.

I killed the engine and got out, handing him the keys. We walked back to the front silently, where he checked the keys back in with CO Castile, who was monitoring the lobby area today.

"You should get back to electrical now," CO Belikov says politely.

"Thanks for talking to me in the van. You didn't have to," I say and give him a small smile, before turning and walking towards the wing where electrical was located. I didn't want to look back at him, because if I did, I knew the disappointment would hit me. That was probably the last time I'd ever spend that much time with Dimitri Belikov.

* * *

 **A/N: So there's your first full taste of CO Belikov! I for one think Dimitri in any kind of uniform is just downright sinful. Reviews are lovely!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews everyone! I really like this chapter. We'll be getting to the nitty gritty stuff soon, promise.**

 **Chapter Four: Russian is Weird**

That night, when I returned to my bunk, I was still riding on the high of both having my ordinary schedule interrupted, and having said schedule being interrupted by Officer Belikov. I was excited to tell Lissa about my day, and as it turns out, she was equally excited to tell me about hers.

"Rose, something happened," she says excitedly as I towel dry my hair. I move to sit down next to her where she's stretched out on her bunk so we could have some sort of semblance of privacy. I didn't want everyone else to hear about my growing obsession with CO Belikov.

"What's up, Liss?" I ask, smiling at her.

"I talked to Christian—Chef Ozera today," she says, smiling shyly.

"Oh yeah? Look at you getting your flirt on. How did it go?" I ask.

"Well, I think. He was making Chicken Picatta today and he needed an assistant. A lot of people volunteered but he chose me, Rose!" she says happily.

"That's awesome, Liss. What else happened?"

"Well, he could've picked me because I'm usually too shy to volunteer, but anyways. I don't know, I helped him cook and then class was over," she said, some of her cheeriness dissipating.

"Nothing else? You guys didn't talk at all?" I ask, wondering how they spent an hour long cooking class without speaking.

"Well, I mean we had to talk. He'd ask me to add spices and stuff. Although…" she trailed off.

"What? You're killing me here, Liss!"

"When class was over he sort of complimented me," she says and blushes.

"Oh my god! Word for word, what did he say?" I say, excited for her. There was so little that happened in this place that was exciting or uplifting that little things like, say, the cute volunteer chef flirting with my best friend was a big deal.

"Well, I made a comment about my uniform because I spilled lemon juice on it. Something about how it was so boring and it sucked not being able to dress up while we're here," she starts. "And then, he said I was lucky because I was one of the few people that looked good in anything, even a prison uniform," she says proudly.

"That's definitely a compliment Lissa! Like, a huge one. He was totally flirting with you," I say. Go Lissa! Go volunteer chef Ozera!

"You think?" she says, suddenly unsure of herself.

"Duh, Lissa. He basically called you hot without saying the words. And he chose you as his assistant. He's definitely into you," I reassure her. "I kind of had a good day too," I say, smiling again thinking about earlier.

"Oh really? What happened?" she asks.

"Camille Conta has some stomach bug so she couldn't be there for van duty, so Officer Belikov came into electrical asking if Mason had someone to spare. So naturally, Mason volunteered me," I say.

"You got to drive the van? With the sexy Russian? You did have a good day," she says laughing, hanging on my every word.

"Yeah, we had to go to the library downtown to pick up some donations. Even if Belikov wasn't there I still would've had a good day getting out of here," I say, thinking of how great it felt to drive again and see views that weren't confined within a fence.

"What happened with Belikov then?" she says, moving to lay on her side with her hand under her head, looking up at me.

"Well, I guess nothing really. I mean, at first, it was kind of awkward because he was all business. But then after a bit of Rose Hathaway persuasion he started talking to me. It was nice having a conversation with someone new. Someone who isn't in prison," I say. "And he didn't talk down to me like the other guards. We just talked like two people having a normal conversation. I felt like we could've been anywhere, a coffee shop, a restaurant—not me driving a prison van," I add.

"That's how Christian makes me feel. He makes me forget I'm in here, like I'm normal. As normal as this can get, anyways," she says, laying on her back.

"I know nothing really happened but I really like him. Not romantically but just as a person," I admit to her. Maybe a little bit romantically, but nothing would ever come of my attraction to him.

"What did you two talk about?" she asks me.

For some reason, I don't want to tell her about his former job. What he told me seemed personal, and honestly, I'm not even sure why he told me.

"We just talked about the basics. Where we were both from, how old we were. He's twenty-seven by the way," I tell her.

"Oh an older man," she says, winking. Lissa and I were the same age now, but she had turned twenty-one several months before me.

"Well Christian is probably older too. Now way he's a successful chef at age twenty-one," I remark.

"He's twenty-four. Someone asked on the first day of class," Lissa says quickly.

"Are you seeing him again Thursday?" I ask her.

"As long as he holds class, then yes," she says, and I can hear the excitement in her voice.

"You should flirt with him a little more. It can't hurt. Plus, I have a feeling he'll flirt back," I say, and stand up from her bed and move to my own.

"We'll see, Rose. I hope you get to spend more time with Officer Belikov. I know you said you two didn't really talk about that much but you seem really happy today," she says, smiling sweetly at me.

I smile back at her and move to lay back in my bed. We both are silent, trying to fall asleep. If I wasn't in here I would make fun of myself for falling asleep before ten o'clock, but since we were woken up at six am sharp every day I wasn't about to complain. I wanted my full eight hours dammit.

The next morning, I awoke for count which was taken quickly and efficiently by Officer Petrov, who unlike Officer Zeklos, did not creep me out with her stare. Afterwards we were released for breakfast and like yesterday, I could feel Zeklos' eyes on me and my friends as we ate.

After being released from breakfast we all separated for work duty, Jill and I heading down the hall to where the electrical workroom was. I was slightly depressed that I'd have to go back to fiddling with wires today, but Jill and Mason being there wouldn't be so bad. As Jill and I are about to enter the workroom, I hear someone call out my name.

"Hathaway!" I hear, causing me and Jill to turn around.

It was Officer Belikov. Cue swooning.

"Can I help you, CO Belikov?" I ask him politely, not knowing what he'd want. Was I in trouble? As I'm running through the possible list of infractions I could've commit in my head, he interrupts me.

"Yes, Inmate Conta is cleared from work duty for the remainder of the week due to her illness. I was cleared with the warden to allow you to be on van duty while Conta is out," he says formally.

I got to drive the van for the whole week? Score! Thank the heavens for whatever it was that Camille ate that made her sick.

"Oh, cool," I say, trying to be blasé. I didn't want anyone else knowing I had scored a sweet gig for the whole week.

"Lucky," I hear Jill say beside me, and I give her a small smile as I leave her at the door to the electrical workroom and head towards Belikov, trying not to run.

"So where are we headed to today, Comrade?" I ask, falling into step beside him.

"New equipment. We have new radios and riot gear that we're picking up," he answers as we walk to the front to check out the keys for the van.

"Riot gear? Is that necessary? I mean this is minimum security, not Alcatraz," I joke.

"It's just precautionary. It never hurts to be prepared. We do need the new radios though," he answers. After checking out the keys, we walk in comfortable silence to the parking lot that holds the van.

I get into the van and start it, watching him as he folds his long legs to get into the passenger seat and buckles his seat belt.

"So where are we headed?" I say, once again not knowing where to go.

"A warehouse near downtown, close to where the library was," he says.

"Okay, cool. I'll just get us downtown then and you can tell me where to go from there," I say, moving the car out of the lot.

"You remember where to go?" he asks, checking with me politely.

"Yeah," I say, turning quickly to smile at him. "I've always been really good with directions. Well, location-type directions, not following directions, obviously," I laugh.

Despite that I just made a joke about the fact that I'm in prison, he smiles a bit.

"So, why prison guard?" I ask him. Surely someone who was trained to be a bodyguard wouldn't want to be guarding a bunch of bitchy women all day long.

"I suppose I wanted a change of pace. Being a guard to someone who is high profile is a lot of pressure," he answers me. Maybe he was turned off by his friend's death. That had to have a big emotional impact on someone who was hired to keep him safe.

"Before this I was going to school to be a lawyer, ironically," I say a little wistfully. Now I'd probably never finish my degree. I'd never have the career I really wanted, and even though technically my parents had more than enough money to support me for the rest of my life, I wanted a real job. My dad owned his own law firm, and he'd probably take me on as his assistant or something, but I wanted to be an actual lawyer.

"Interesting, why law?" he asks me, not mentioning at all the fact that I could never actually pursue it.

"My father's a lawyer. And I always like the idea of defending people who needed help," I say truthfully. It was even more ironic that Abe, my father, was a lawyer. But we're nowhere near as rich or influential as Nathan Taurus' family was, so even with my father's best criminal defense, I still had to serve time. I suspect the judge was paid off.

"Your father's a lawyer?" he asks me.

"Yeah. Pretty good one too. He runs Mazur Law Firm," I answer.

"Mazur? As in Ibrahim Mazur? I thought your name was Hathaway," he says suspiciously, and I wonder how he knew my father.

"Well, technically, my name is Rosemarie—Rose. But my mom kept her last name, and mine's hyphenated, but Hathaway-Mazur is too long to fit onto my nametag," I say. "Also, wait, how do you know my dad?"

"Ibrahim Mazur was the lawyer for the family I worked for," he says slowly, as if not believing he and my dad were the same person.

"That's not possible…you said you worked for a mob boss! My dad wouldn't represent them," I say shaking my head. He was wrong, obviously.

"You'd be surprised what money can get you. Ivan's father usually had the best of everything, and if your dad is as good as you say he is, then that's who he'd want," he finishes.

"What did he look like? The lawyer you think was my dad," I ask. I had to know if he was telling the truth or if it was some crazy coincidence.

"Um, well I only saw him once or twice. But tall, dark hair, tanned skin like yours…I do remember he always wore a scarf," he says, sounding lost in memories.

"Well, you have me there. My old man never goes anywhere without a scarf. He's got some weird fashion sense," I say, chuckling, thinking of him.

I guess he was right then. I knew my dad had many high profile clients, but I didn't realize how high profile. I could only hope he wasn't doing anything illegal, just representing someone who did illegal things. Not that that made it any better when his own daughter was a convicted felon.

"Can you say something in Russian?" I ask him and looked over. He seemed puzzled at my abrupt change of subject, but didn't say anything. He was quiet for a moment, probably thinking of what to say.

"Привет, как ты сегодня," he spits out. He sounded a lot like he was speaking with his mouth full.

"Wow, I could not even try to guess what you just said," I laugh, awed at his use of another language.

"I said 'hello, how are you today?'" he says, and I can hear the smile in his voice.

"Oh. I kind of thought you'd say something cooler like a cuss word or something. Can you teach me one?" I ask him, thinking of how cool it would be to curse in another language.

"Now why would I teach you that? So that you could cuss at the other guards without them knowing?" he says, and I think he's mad at me but a quick glance over and I can see he's still smiling at bit.

"No of course not! What kind of person do you think I am, Comrade? When I cuss at the guards I do it in English, that way there's absolutely no confusion about what I'm saying," I say in a snarky way, smiling.

"I see. Well I hope I'm never on the receiving end of that," he says, his smile widening a bit more.

"As long as you stay on my good side, you'll be safe," I say, and I look over at him and wink. I wasn't trying to flirt with him really, just being my usual sassy self.

He smirks for a second but his expression fades once more into that blank mask he uses while normally on the job. Had I upset him?

"So since you were a bodyguard did you have to know like…karate or something? Or did you just have a gun?" I ask him, wanting to break him out of his quiet shell again.

"I had a gun, yes, but I tried not to use it if I could help it. I do know self-defense, but I wouldn't label it as karate," he says, and if I'm not mistaken he sounds just a tad bit cocky.

"Are you pretty good at it then? You definitely have the body for it," I say, before realizing what I had let slip out. Shit. Too late now.

"I'm good, yes," he says, a little laughter in his voice.

"Sorry, I just meant that you've got muscles—I mean you're—you've—"

"I know what you meant, Rose," he says and I can practically hear him grinning.

WAIT. He called me Rose. Dear god, did I love hearing my name falling from his lips.

"You called me Rose," I say shyly.

"I did? I didn't realize, I'm sorry—" he starts.

"No, I like it. Only Officer Ashford calls me Rose. It's nice. Makes me feel like more than Inmate Hathaway," I state sadly, knowing that would forever be my label in here.

"Well, I don't see a problem with calling you by your name, then," he says. We're at a stoplight, so I look over and smile at him.

"Can I call you Dimitri then? Is that what you actually go by? Do Russians have nicknames?" I ask him. He chuckles at my fast paced questions.

"Yes, we have nicknames, although they'll probably seem unusual to you," he answers me patiently.

"So what's the nickname for Dimitri then?" I ask.

"Dimka," he says, and even though it sounds silly to me he still sounds sexy saying it.

"Dimka? That's so weird. Russian is weird," I say, feeling stupid even saying his nickname.

"English is weird," he counters with a smile.

"Dimitri then. I like Dimitri better," I say.

"Me too. Only my family calls me Dimka and it's more of a term of endearment than anything," he says.

We talk a little bit more about his family before we finally got downtown, where we had to stop our conversation for him to give me directions.

I learned that he had three sisters, Karolina and Sonya, his two older siblings, and Viktoria, his younger sister who was eighteen. He told me about his mother Olena, who was caring and kind and thoughtful. He had a nephew Paul, who was about ten years old, and a baby niece Zoya. The way he spoke I could tell he adored the children, and the thought made me smile. The stories he told me about his family made me miss mine.

Although Abe and Janine weren't exactly warm and comforting like he described Olena to be, we had our own quirky way of functioning that I was perfectly content with. My dad was a little more affectionate than my mother, although neither of them were smothering with their affection towards me, which suited me just fine.

After we picked up the new radios and the ton of riot gear that they'd for some reason given us, we made our way back to camp.

It was a little quieter on the way back, but we still made light conversation. I told him about my family, my parents and Meredith mostly. He didn't ask many questions but listened intently, as if I was the most interesting person in the world. I had a feeling he was just that dedicated to everyone and everything.

When we got back to camp, Dimitri, as I've officially decided to officially call him, unloaded the boxes of gear and despite his refusals, I helped him carry the ones I could lift to the loading area.

After that, he politely dismissed me to go back to electrical for the short amount of time I had left, although I noted he was a little friendlier with his goodbye than the day before. He called me Rose again, which just about stopped my beating heart.

I don't know if anything would last after Camille was able to return to van duty, but I was already beginning to depend on the pseudo-friendship I had developed with Dimitri to brighten my day.

I smiled to myself throughout the remaining hour of my time in electrical, causing both Jill and Mason to shoot me funny looks, but I didn't care. I had just spent the afternoon with a Russian God, and no one could take that away from me.

 **A/N: So I know this is definitely a slow burn, but hey, they're in prison. I'm trying to keep them as close to in character as possible with the crossover plot, but there will be little OOC moments for many of the characters every once and a while. Also, forgive me if my Russian is in any way inaccurate, I just used Google to translate everything so I'm not 100% certain it's correct.**

 **As always, reviews are lovely! I'll try to update within the next week.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Five: Saying 'Sup' is So Much Easier**

 **A/N: Thanks for the reviews everyone! I know this is a slow burn, but in true VA fashion I know Dimitri wouldn't press for any relationship so early on when it was something illegal/frowned upon, so bear with me! I'm hoping their bonding experiences make up for it. Enjoy!**

The rest of the week flew by more quickly than I was comfortable with. I wanted to spend as much time with Dimitri as I could.

On Thursday, Dimitri and I went to pick up the weekly order of supplies for the kitchen staff, which was a shorter trip than the others because it wasn't as far into town.

The ride was comfortable, any residual awkwardness from the first trips gone. We talked about anything and everything, ranging from his favorite color (brown, yuck) to what superpowers we'd rather have. In fact, I was pulling out all the stops with my 'would you rather' questions.

"Okay, would you rather be an evil immortal vampire or a mortal, regular vampire?" I ask him seriously.

"What's the difference?" he asks.

"Well you're either evil and immortal, or a mortal and good," I clarify for him.

"Would I have to drink blood either way?" he asks.

I'm silent for a moment as I ponder his question.

"Yes. But as an evil vamp you'd have to kill your victim," I say confidently, proud of my stellar question.

"Easy. Good, mortal vampire. I wouldn't want to have to kill anyone," he says.

"Your turn," I say.

"Okay, would you rather…know every language in the world, or be able to play any musical instrument?" he asks.

"Language, definitely. That way I could understand when you spoke Russian. We could talk about other people right in front of them," I say giggling, excited by the thought of sharing something secret with Dimitri.

"Now that wouldn't be very nice, Roza," he lightly chastises me.

"Roza?" I question.

"Oh, yes, it's your name in Russian. I'm sorry sometimes I don't realize when I say things in Russian," he says, and when I look over at him I swear his cheeks were a little flushed.

"That's okay, I like it. It sounds pretty when you say it. I'd probably butcher any word I said if I ever tried to speak Russian. Even my name," I say and chuckle. I tried taking Spanish in high school and it was nothing short of pathetic.

I could see him smiling from the corner of my eye.

"Do you think and dream in Russian too?" I ask, insanely curious. I'd never met someone, aside from my father, who was born and raised in another country.

"Sometimes. I have to admit I'm not really very aware of it. Sometimes it's English, sometimes Russian. I understand them both, so they just come across as thoughts to me. Although right now, I can tell you my thoughts are in English since that's what we're speaking," he clarifies.

"That's so cool. Will you teach me some Russian? I know I only have a day left driving the van but we could squeeze a couple words in by then, right?" I ask him. I even glance at him quickly with my eyes widened and a small pout on my lips, and jokingly beg him.

"Fine, fine. Just a few simple words. No cuss words," he promises me, smirking. Damn, I was just about to ask, too.

"Alright, lay it on me Comrade," I tell him.

"Okay…I guess we can just start with hello," he says.

I frown because it's so basic, but honestly I don't think I could handle anything more complex than that.

"Здравствуйте," he says. Again, it sounds like a jumbled mess of words.

"That's hello? It's so complicated. Forgive me for sounding so American, but saying 'sup' is so much easier," I laugh.

"Okay, say it again, but slower," I tell him.

"Zdrast-vooyte," he says, letting me hear all the syllables.

I try, and it sounds awful. He laughs.

"Okay, how about a simple 'hi'," he starts. "That one's not as complicated."

"Fine. I told you I'd be terrible," I say, but I'm not discouraged enough to stop trying.

"Привет. If you sound it out slowly, it's Pree-vyet," he says. Oh thank god, that one was so much easier.

"Pree-vyet," I say, and although it still sounds a bit crude compared to his native tongue, it sounds passable.

"That's way better than the first time," he laughs, and I laugh with him.

After that, he teaches me a few more words, including goodbye, please, yes, no, and as per my random request, watermelon, which wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be.

Van duty ended quickly after that, and like the previous days, I spent my remaining hour or so in electrical tinkering on things will Jill. After our work duty was over, we were released to dinner.

Me and Jill walked together down the hall heading to the cafeteria. There were lots of girls also released from other sections of the prison as well, and up ahead of us, it looked like there was a commotion.

"What's going on?" Jill asks me, but I couldn't see any better than her seeing as she was several inches taller than me.

We approached the cluster of women closer to the scuffle, and saw what was causing the ruckus.

"Up against the wall, inmate!" I hear. Once Jill and I get a little closer, I see that it's Officer Zeklos yelling.

Leaning up against the wall is Tanya something or other. I recognized her from my dorm. She was probably in her late twenties, with stick straight blonde hair that went down to her mid-back. She mostly hung around Galina and her crew. She was very pretty, one of some odd women in here who still looked like a model despite her circumstances.

"What did I do?!" Tanya shouts at Officer Zeklos, who is further spreading her arms and legs apart and he puts her in position for a pat down.

"Shut up, inmate, unless you want a shot as well," Zeklos barks out, and Tanya fumes, but is otherwise silent as Jesse runs his hands up and down her body.

It wasn't a big deal to get a pat down around here, but they were usually only reserved when someone was accused of suspicious activity, and from what I could tell, this just looked random. That, coupled with the fact that the women around here had been pretty docile these past few weeks, we were all still crowded in the hallway watching.

"Move along, inmates! Or you'll all get shots!" CO Zeklos shouts as he finishes with Tanya and nudges her away. We all scurry along the hallway along with her.

"He fucking grabbed my ass," I hear Tanya say to her friend, another one of Red's crew.

I look at Jill to see if she heard also, and she raises her eyebrows and looks concerned, nodding her head.

After all the commotion, we finally make it into the dining hall and get our food, and join Mia, Sydney and Lissa who have already been seated.

"Guess what just happened," Jill announces to the group. I was actually surprised she had said anything, as Jill really wasn't one to gossip too much.

"What?" Mia asks, instantly curious.

"Officer Zeklos just gave Tanya a pat down in the hall, and afterwards Tanya said he was groping her," Jill whispers conspiratorially.

"That's awful! She should report it to Officer Petrov," Lissa chimes in.

"Wait, which Tanya? Red's Tanya, or Tanya Gutierrez?" Mia asks.

"It's was Red's Tanya. Wait, there's two Tanya's?" I ask, laughing at my nature to be pretty oblivious about those who aren't directly involved with me.

"Yeah, Tanya G hangs out with all the Latinas. She's short, really pretty, probably thirty? She's the one that works in the salon," Mia says.

"Anyways," Lissa says, "What happened after that?"

"Nothing. Officer Zeklos just yelled at us to get a move on like nothing ever happened," I say, shooting daggers at him with my eyes as I see him enter the cafeteria area.

"That's ridiculous. I hope he doesn't start trying that with all the girls," Sydney says. "But, on a brighter note, ask Lissa about her day," she finishes with a smug smile.

"Does this happen to have anything to do with our resident sexy chef?" I ask, raising my eyebrows at Lissa.

"Maybe," she says quietly, blushing, as Mia starts squealing.

"Spill the beans, Liss," I tell her, knowing she's embarrassed in front of everyone but wanting to hear what happened anyways.

"He picked her to be his assistant again, and they were totally flirting the whole time," Sydney answers for her when she remained silent.

"We were not!" Lissa cries. "At least, not the whole time," she clarifies with a satisfied smile.

"I knew it! What did I tell you Liss?" I tell her smugly.

"Oh shut it, Rose, you're embarrassing me," she says, and once again ducks her head to hide her flushed face.

After a little more relentless teasing of Lissa, mostly by me and Mia, we all head out to our dorms.

After my shower, I return to my bunk where Lissa is waiting for me, and she makes me tell her all about my day with Dimitri.

"So, you're official now?" she asks me with a playful smile.

"What do you mean?" I ask her.

"You're calling him Dimitri, he's calling you Rose. You're practically married," she jokes with me.

"Hah! Sure, Liss. But seriously, it's just nice that some of the guards actually treat us right. Dimitri is one of the good ones," I say, thinking of how friendly he is with me. He was genuinely a good guy and a good guard who cared about the women here.

"That's true. So is Christian," she sighs dreamily.

"I'm sorry you can't actually date him," I tell her. "How ironic it is that you find someone you really like when you're unavailable in prison." I sigh sadly, knowing the same thing was happening on my end with Dimitri.

"I know, but if I wasn't here I would never have met him at all. Christian lives in Philly. My parents live in New York. But still, it's a sucky situation either way," she laments.

I agree, and after that Lissa and I are silent as we try to sleep.

I wake with a start the next morning, not remembering having fallen asleep. I guess I was more tired than I thought last night.

Unfortunately for us, it's Officer Zeklos in our bunk who's here for count. He makes his way down the center of the bunks, clicking off his instrument as he goes, looking generally creepy as fuck. It's really a shame he was so good looking.

Once he reaches me, he eyes me up and down greedily, and then moves on to Lissa, doing the same to her. I see her cringe from the corner of my eye.

Zeklos makes his way down the bunk, stopping again when he reaches Avery Lazar. He smirks at her as well, not quite checking her out but offering her a sinister smile, and she smiles back at him, her yellowed teeth shining at me from where I stood.

What the hell is that about? I think to myself. Does she have a thing for Zeklos? If so, she can have him.

After he finishes his count, he lets us go to breakfast, and the rest of the girls join me and Lissa as we walk down the hall. Everyone seems to be pretty worn out this morning, as no one really said anything as we made our way to the cafeteria, not even Mia.

We take our seats and eat relatively quietly, Mia still making an attempt to make some conversation although no one really seems up to talking.

I look around and see Avery and Natalie at their table with their other drugged up friends, whispering jovially and laughing obnoxiously. They usually weren't that loud and excitable, but maybe one of them was able to smuggle in a joint or something. Who knows.

After we finished breakfast, which was coffee, fruit, and some weird Russian pancake thing, the girls and I got up and prepared to head off for work duty. Instead of heading to electrical with Jill like I normally would to wait for Dimitri, I broke ranks with the group and walked right up to him where he was leaning against the cafeteria wall, making sure all the inmates left the cafeteria without issue.

"Hey, Comrade. I figured I'd save you the time and just meet you here today, since it's closer to the key checkout," I say, moving to stand near him where he waited on the wall.

"Thank you. I just have to wait until everyone clears out of the cafeteria," he says, his tone friendly but not quite as nice as when we were alone in the van.

I moved to lean against the wall with him, and watched the remaining stragglers leave the cafeteria. When all was clear, he nodded over the guard standing near the adjacent wall, the Greek guy, and they both moved to go their separate ways.

I followed behind Dimitri as we walked to the front desk, where he checked out the keys and we made our way to the van.

After he informed me where we were going, which was to pick up some supplies at the warehouse where we went to pick up the radios, we were off.

Well fell into easy conversation during the ride into town. I questioned Dimitri about school and his family life. Apparently he was going to college for a while to become a teacher, but was offered a great salary when Ivan's father contracted him out to be a bodyguard.

As I deduced from our earlier conversations, he professed that he was very close to his mother and sisters. His father wasn't in the picture, and hadn't been since he was a young teenager.

In turn, I told him more about my relationship with Meredith.

"And she's younger than you?" Dimitri asks, after my sharing a story with him about some of me and Meredith's crazy antics.

"Yes, she's a year and a half younger. I don't have any siblings so she's like my little sister. I guess that's why I'm so protective over her. Protective to a fault, apparently," I say and laugh.

"What do you mean?" he asks.

I frown. I thought he knew what I'd done. Was it possible that he didn't?

"I mean that's pretty much why I'm in here. Do you not know?" I ask him, genuinely shocked.

"No. I mean we were briefed on some of the more…threatening inmates' situations, but there's over two hundred women in here. I haven't memorized everyone's infractions," he tells me. I guess that makes sense that it's a need to know basis except for in the case of possibly hostile inmates.

"Oh. I didn't know that. I guess I just assumed you all knew everything about us," I admit.

"No, there's definitely a lot to learn. You're here because of something to with your cousin then?" he asks. It wasn't a dig for more information, either. He just asked because he was curious about what I'd mentioned.

"Yeah, you could definitely say that," I answer.

While I liked Dimitri and definitely thought we had our own little bond going on, I don't know that I wanted to tell him what I'd done yet. Even though in my book it was totally justified, I didn't want him to look at me like he thought I was a criminal, even though, technically, I was. He didn't now, and I didn't want that to change.

He didn't press me to go any more in depth with my story, and I didn't offer anything else.

After that we fell into more light conversation. We picked up the supplies at the warehouse and made our way back to the camp, all the while I was dreading getting back.

This was my last day in the van. I saw Camille this morning and she was fine, so there's no way I'd be able to squeeze in any more van duty.

When we made it back to camp, my mood immediately soured. I think Dimitri sensed it too, because it seemed to rub off on him.

We parked the van back in the lot and I walked with Dimitri to the front guard to check the keys back in.

After he'd done that and had a short conversation with the officer, CO Tanner, he started walking back in the direction of electrical. I followed.

"You don't have to walk me back, you know," I tell him. He usually didn't, so I wasn't sure why he was today.

"Electrical is on the way to my office. I need to grab my keys," he answers, his tone a little sharp.

"Oh," I say, feeling stupid and a little bit embarrassed.

"But to be honest I get a little bored after I drop you off," he says. "I have thirty minutes until my lunch so walking you back keeps things interesting," he finishes with a small smile.

"Big bad Dimitri Belikov gets bored?" I joke, remembering how unwaveringly stoic he always seems.

"It happens, but not often," he smirks, but his features soon shift back to a blank mask.

We reach the hallway that the electrical work room is in. I'm reluctant to go, knowing this was the end of both my freeing van duty and my Dimitri time.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later, Comrade. It's a shame I didn't get to master the Russian language," I joke, in an effort to cover up the fact that I was pretty disappointed with having to go back to my normal job.

"You should get back to work, Rose," he says gently, lingering in the hall for a second before smiling and continuing on to his office without looking back at me.

I was a little stung that he had no heartfelt goodbye for me, but I shouldn't have been. After all, our bonding time spent together consisted of like four days of me driving a prison van.

This week was a nice little break from reality, but now I was facing it head on. I was a prisoner and he was a guard. Dimitri Belikov would never be mine.

 **A/N: I just gotta warn everyone I'm not trying to be racist in ANY WAY whatsoever but in OITNB (and the book which is based on someone's true experience in a women's prison) everyone forms groups around race, so for those who don't watch I'm trying to keep true to that aspect of the prison experience. The only reason it doesn't apply to the VA group is for the sake of keeping them in a smaller group for the story.**

 **Also, I'm considering throwing in some DPOV's every now and then. How does that sound? Not in this chapter but in later chapters when more interesting stuff would be happening on his side.**

 **Reviews are welcomed :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Six: Slave Driver From Hell**

 **A/N: As always, thanks for the reviews. A couple people were interested in DPOV so I think I'll add one soon! Not this chapter, but maybe one of the next few!**

After my week driving the van with Dimitri, going back to electrical was like torture. I had always enjoyed my time with Mason and Jill, but being cramped inside the small room tinkering with electrical equipment now sucked. Time felt like it was going by at a snail's pace.

It was a relief that I had finally made it to the weekend, as I was planning on fully taking advantage of my outdoors time that we had for a couple hours every day. I usually ran on the track during this time, both to stay fit and keep up my stamina, but also as a means of stress relief.

The outside air was brisk as the girls and I made our way to one of the few picnic like benches that decorated the outdoors area. We usually got outdoors time on the weekends, and occasionally during the week. I usually spent about half an hour running so that I wouldn't miss out on time to hang out with the girls.

I tightened the laces on my flat shoes, and made a last ditched attempt to get one of the girls to run with me, which they all vehemently denied. None of them were too big on exercise.

I had actually gotten Liss to run a few times with me, but after one particularly long run where I used some colorful words of encouragement, it ended in Lissa yelling at me and calling me a slave driver from hell. She's refused to run with me ever since.

I made my way to the track, pulling out the cheap set of earphones that I had bought from commissary and my dinosaur sized iPod, and began my usual eight laps around the track.

It was April now, but the air was still biting early in the morning. After two or three laps, I could feel my lungs start to burn with the familiar fire of exertion. I didn't stop though, and even though my lungs were protesting, I completed my two-mile run in record time.

I was walking now, doing my cool down lap around the track when I saw Dimitri over by the gardening shed, doing his rounds around the outdoor area to make sure no one got out of hand.

Grinning, I made my way towards him, still breathing a bit heavily from my run.

"Hey Comrade," I say as I approach him. He offers me a small smile when he sees me. I notice he's chewing gum, and immediately my mind craves the minty freshness.

"My god, Comrade, please tell me you have your pack of gum with you, I'd kill for a piece," I say, stopping right in front of him.

A loud cackling screech startles both of us, and I look over to see Natalie and Avery laughing hysterically over near the basketball court with their friends.

"I'm sorry Ro—Inmate Hathaway. I'm not permitted to give you anything, even if it's just gum," he says.

Inmate Hathaway? Ugh, it sounded so wrong coming from his lips now that I'd heard him say my name. I lean my hand up against the shed and almost lose my balance when a plank of wood loosens and falls to the ground. Picking it up quickly to cover my embarrassment, I shove it back in place over the empty hole in the structure it had produced.

"Um, okay. Sorry I didn't think about it," I say, sort of hurt. But then I realized how close some of the other inmates were to us, probably almost within earshot. I realized he was trying to be professional in front of everyone else since we weren't alone in the van any more.

"I'm sorry," he says, his voice lowering a bit. "But it wouldn't be fair."

"That's cool. What about another Russian lesson?" I ask him, trying to maintain some of the familiar friendship I had built up with him.

He looks around at the area behind me and nods his head slightly in recognition. I turn around to see CO Tanner also walking the grounds near the ball court.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Hathaway, but you should get back to your friends," he says, gesturing to the table a few hundred yards away where I could see my friends laughing.

"Yeah, sure thing, Officer Belikov," I spat at him. I didn't see why it was such a big deal, we were just talking. Guards could be friendly with us, it wasn't against the rules. It wasn't like he was offering to smuggle me in drugs or anything.

The reasonable part of me knew that I shouldn't be upset with him; he was just being professional and trying to do his job. But the irrational side of me was pissed that the one good thing I had going in here, aside from my friends, of course, looked like it was about to end.

I stormed away from him, and although he did look a little hurt, he quickly removed all emotion from his face and went back to watching the rest of the women.

"Hey, what were you and Officer Sexy talking about over there?" Mia asks me as I approach the table.

"Nothing," I say unenthusiastically. "I was just asking if I was needed for van duty this week, but Camille is fine now."

"Bummer," Mia says, frowning.

"Speaking of, has anyone else noticed that the druggie crew seems to be a bit more…excitable lately?" Sydney asks.

"Yes! Natalie kept me up almost all night last night. She and Avery were whispering across their bunks and giggling like idiots for hours," Jill laments.

"That's weird. They're both usually pretty inconspicuous around here. Their whole crew is, really," Lissa chimes in.

"Yeah, I've definitely noticed they seem more cheerful. Maybe they've found something new to get high from," I say, shrugging my shoulders.

I watched Avery and her crew for the rest of our time outside, curious as to what they were up to. They just stood in a circle on the basketball court talking, not really doing anything suspicious. Maybe I was just being paranoid; maybe they were always this loud and talkative and I never really cared much before.

Before long, the call rang out loud and clear telling inmates it was time to head inside. I got up with the rest of the girls, and was heading back inside when Lissa tugged on my arm.

"What's up, Rose? You seem kind of down," Lissa asks me. Of course, of all the girls, Lissa would notice the little changes in my mood. Mia, Sydney and Jill were just up ahead, chatting happily.

"Nothing, really. Just wondering what Avery and her girls are up to," I say. It wasn't a lie, per se. I really was curious, but the thing with Dimitri was upsetting me too.

"Are you sure? Because—" she started, but before she could finish, I heard my name being called out.

"Hathaway! Can I speak with you for a moment?" It was Dimitri!

Lissa's eyes narrowed, as if asking me what I had done to get in trouble. I shrugged my shoulders and gave her my best innocent face, before turning away from the others and jogging over to where Dimitri was standing.

"Yes, CO Belikov?" I asked. My tone wasn't hostile like earlier, but if he was going to be formal with me, I'd respect him and treat him the same way.

"I just wanted to let you know you won't be needed for van duty this week," he says, stepping a bit closer to me.

"Yeah, I already know that I—" before I could finish, I abruptly paused as he reached out his hand to inspect my nametag attached to my shirt's front pocket. I could hardly contain my smile as I saw his hand that was hovering over my nametag swiftly drop a piece of gum into the front pocket of my shirt, all under the guise of looking at my ID.

I felt my face flush with excitement and my heart start to beat a little quicker. I looked up at him, slightly astounded that he was breaking his precious rules for me.

"So you're back in electrical this week," he says, a smirk on the edge of his lips, but otherwise completely unfazed.

"Um, yeah. Thanks. I already knew that, but thank you for reminding me, CO Belikov," I say, recovering my thought from earlier and smiling at him full out.

He smiled a small secretive smile back at me before composing his face once more.

"Move along, Hathaway, outdoor time is over," he says, shooing me back towards the door, resuming his professional demeanor.

I had trouble reigning in my smile as I walked to the entertainment room, where I knew Lissa and the others would be. My cheeks hurt from trying to hold back my expression. Before I went in, I popped the piece of gum into my mouth and cherished the minty goodness, storing the wrapper in my pocket.

I entered the room, where the girls were watching some show on the Discovery Channel, and pulled out my seat out next to Lissa.

"What are you smiling for? And where'd you get gum?" She asks me curiously, while the others pay us no attention.

"I'm just in a good mood," I say. "And, um, Mason gave it to me earlier," I lie. I don't know why I did, but I didn't feel like sharing this moment with Lissa. It felt private.

She nods in recognition of having heard me, and then joins back in the conversation that Sydney and Mia are having about cars.

After hanging out and watching TV in the rec room for a while, the girls and I left for our dorms when Red's crew got into a spat with the Latina girls about who got control over the TV channel. Apparently it was imperative that they get to watch some old southern lady's cooking show.

When we got to our bunk, Lissa and I talked for a while with the others until it was around dinnertime, when we all got up to leave for the cafeteria. Just before leaving my bunk, an idea sprung into my head.

Earlier, when unwrapping my gum, I had stuck the paper in my pocket because there was no trash can around. Pulling out the decent sized wrapper, I got a pen from my bedside cabinet and wrote two simple words.

Vampire. Translation?

Hoping he would get what I was asking, I folded the wrapper back up neatly and kept it hidden in my hand, debating on how to slip it to Dimitri. I wasn't sure if he'd play along with the little game I was orchestrating, but I was hoping he would.

I rushed to catch up with the others, all the while looking out for Dimitri in the halls. When we reached the cafeteria, I could see him leaning up against the wall near the entrance. We had to walk past him to get in the line for our food, so I had to do this quickly without anyone noticing.

As we walked past him, I moved closer to the wall so I could be as near him as possible without actually running in to him. Reaching my hand out I quickly brushed his and shoved the note into it, crossing my arms over my chest as soon as I had done so. I'm hoping he actually kept hold of the note and hadn't dropped it, or else if he didn't pick it up, someone would find a weird message on gum wrapper later.

The whole exchange took place in under less than ten seconds, and I didn't even look his way as it had happened. I waited until I got in line to chance a look over at him, and thank heavens he was smiling just a little bit. Not enough to really be noticeable, but I could tell it wasn't his usual blank expression.

I know he hadn't looked the note yet, but he obviously knew I had written him something and wasn't mad at me for slipping it to him.

Feeling triumphant and slightly rebellious, I was in a great mood all throughout dinner, even though Red had made some weird Russian dish I'd never had before that tasted like old cabbage.

Even if there was a possibility he wouldn't write back, I was still ridiculously happy up until the time I went to bed. Most people would probably think I was delirious for being so excited to pass notes, but this felt slightly dangerous.

Not only was I writing secret messages to a guard, but he might possibly write back. The thought of me corrupting Dimitri even just the slightest bit was invigorating.

The next morning, after breakfast, I was slightly disappointed that Dimitri hadn't sought me out yet to return the note. I had seen him once or twice in the cafeteria and he never made any move to approach me or really even look at me.

I was starting to worry that maybe he thought what I'd done was inappropriate. Maybe it was a bad idea. I mean, were we in fifth grade? Passing notes was a stupid idea.

The nervous anxiety ate me up the whole time in electrical. We weren't supposed to be that loud but we could talk if we wanted, and yet the quiet conversation that Jill offered wasn't enough to keep me distracted from thinking about the note.

I guess it really wasn't that huge a deal. Worst comes to worst, he could just throw it away and ignore it. It wasn't like he could report me for writing on a gum wrapper. But still, I was worried I had overstepped my bounds and ruined our camaraderie.

Maybe I had misread our friendship. Maybe there was no friendship at all, just Dimitri being polite and trying to hold conversation when we were in the van. But no, that couldn't be it. I mean he had given me the gum, after all.

But it was possible that I was misreading our connection and making it out to be something deeper than it was. For me, I felt really connected with Dimitri even though we had just met. He was quiet and reserved but he just seemed to understand, and I felt, to some extent, that I understood him as well. But maybe that was just me. Maybe he really did just see me as another inmate.

I openly scoffed at myself for overthinking so much because of a silly note, causing Jill to give me a questioning look. I just shrugged, and made the decision to just put the note out of my mind for the rest of the day.

After that, I did successfully forget about the note for the rest of the day. I was in a great mood at dinner because we were served my favorite chocolate pudding, and because Sydney claimed she was allergic, she always gave me hers. During my shower, which I decided to make extra-long because no one else was using the stalls, the water stayed warm the whole time. The night was shaping up very nicely.

Making my way back to my dorm, my sandals making a slapping noise with every step I took, I noticed that up ahead of me Officer Zeklos was conversing with Avery in the hallway.

Upon hearing my footsteps, they both turned to look at me and stopped their conversation. I narrowed my eyes at Avery as I passed, and she did the same to me.

I crossed my arms over my chest protectively when I realized that Zeklos was staring because I wasn't wearing a bra. I looked back at them after I passed and they were still silent, watching me. CO Zeklos then gestured for Avery to step into the office behind him, and they both went in and shut the door.

Good god I hope they aren't doing anything sexual. I wouldn't get near Avery's mouth with a ten-foot pole if I were him.

Brushing off any off-putting thoughts of a Lazar/Zeklos tryst, I continued to make my way to my dorm hoping I didn't run into anyone else on the way, which I luckily did not.

When I got back to my bunk, Lissa was at the bunks across from ours talking with Sydney while Mia painted her nails.

I was about to sit down and towel dry my hair when I noticed that the small spiral notebook that I own was sitting atop my pillow.

"Liss, were you using my notebook?" I question, holding it up so she could see it from where she sat with Sydney.

"No, it was on your bed when I got back. I thought you'd left it out," she replies, shrugging.

Huh. Well, who the fuck was in my stuff then? I definitely wasn't using this notebook this morning. In fact, I'd never used it. I bought it at commissary a while back imagining writing letters to Meredith, but I'd never actually done it.

Setting it back down on my bed, I bent down to inspect the small metal cabinet beside my bed that held my things, making sure nothing else I owned was missing.

But no, it looked like everything was still there. The two Harry Potter books I had were there, along with my blanket, a bottle of glittery gold nail polish, a photo of my parents and I, a picture of me and Meredith dressed up for Halloween as vampire hunters in all black, complete with garlic and tin foil stakes, and a chocolate bar that I was saving.

Closing my cabinet, I picked my notebook back up and opened it to see if anyone had written in it when a small folded note fell out of it and onto my bed. Looking over to Lissa and the girls, I saw they weren't paying me any attention.

I sat back on my bed, facing away from the girls, and opened the note carefully, as if messing up the meticulous folding would somehow damage the message.

I didn't need a label to know whose handwriting this was. It was manly, yet still neat and organized just like he was. There, in his tidy scrawl written in Cyrillic it said:

вампир. Vam-peer.

P.S. if you want to pass notes, hide it. Behind the loose board in the shed would do.

I almost squealed with delight. Not only did he answer me back, but also he was encouraging me to keep doing so. Or maybe not encouraging me, but giving me a safer option if I wanted to do it again.

I think I re-read the note at least five times in my head, and was practicing saying vampire in Russian, which really wasn't much different from the English word.

Tucking Dimitri's note into my folded up blanket, I got my pen out and started writing on the first blank page of my now useful notebook.

Damn. Translation?

I smiled to myself, thinking maybe he'd teach me a few cuss words if he didn't actually have to speak them in front of me.

Tucking the folded note under my pillow, I decided to join Liss and the girls in their conversation before bed.

Tomorrow, when we got our daily outdoors time, I'd slip the note behind the loose board in the shed for Dimitri to find.

I went to bed with a huge smile on my face, knowing that even though I had lost the van, I hadn't lost Dimitri.

 **A/N: So, what do you think Jesse is up to? Those who watch OITNB may be able to guess!**

 **Next chapter may be DPOV, or maybe the chapter after that, we'll see! What would you guys like to see happen? I have it all planned out, of course, but I'd like to know some of your input.**

 **As always, reviews are much appreciated!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Seven: Hot in an 'I'm-angry-at-my-parents' and Shop at Hot Topic Type of Way**

 **A/N: So sorry it took me so long to update! I've been swamped at work lately and it's sucked. But here's chapter 7, and as I promised the NEXT chapter will be in DPOV! As for now this is still RPOV.**

The next few weeks were nothing short of thrilling. Dimitri and I continued passing our notes, hiding them behind the loose board in the shed. We'd moved on from Russian translations to full on paragraphs.

We'd begun a game of a sort of written version of twenty questions, asking each other things in turn. We weren't able to write each other every day, as some days it was harder than others to get out to the shed if I didn't have outside time, or any other legitimate reason to be out there.

But even though it wasn't a perfect system, I couldn't have been happier. Having Dimitri as a friend had turned my whole attitude about being in prison around. I woke up every day excited to catch a glimpse of him in the halls or to find a note from him in his perfect neat script.

I also finally admit to myself that I had developed a crush on Dimitri. Well, at this point, I think I'd moved on past the crush stage. I really, really liked Dimitri. He was someone I could see myself being with, if only in another life where our circumstances were different.

This was the first time I'd really started to question my decision about what I had done to protect Meredith. I didn't regret saving her from that ass Nathan, of course, but now I was starting to question why I had done it so violently.

I should've just hit him with my fists, yelled at him, done anything but reached for that bat. Hell, he was drunk; he wouldn't have put up that much of a fight. But I was pissed and scared and angry for Meredith, and I had let my emotions and aggression get the better of me.

Dimitri had told me he lives in Philly, where I went to school. He commutes the forty-five-minute drive every morning to the small town where the prison was located. Maybe we would've crossed paths somehow in the outside world. Maybe I had unknowingly screwed up my only chance at ever really being with him. That is, if he wanted me.

That itself was another issue. Did Dimitri like me? It was hard to tell. Sometimes it seemed like he did, with the way he'd smile at me in the halls when no one was looking, and the warmth in his answers in the notes we passed.

But otherwise, I had no clue. Dimitri was very stoic and reserved, and not only that he was a stickler for the rules. And what we were doing was definitely against the rules. He was a guard. He was in charge of me while I was incarcerated. If we actually did enter into some type of pseudo-relationship, if we were caught he could go to jail. As a prisoner, I didn't really have any right to consent, so if we were ever caught doing anything sexual, he could be charged with rape.

But thinking of a sexual relationship, or any relationship, with Dimitri or any male at this point was just wishful thinking.

But that didn't stop me from wistfully daydreaming about it in my free time.

Said daydream was interrupted by Lissa as she rattled off in my ear about Christian Ozera at breakfast.

"He's just so perfect, Rose! Did you know that our zodiacs are perfectly compatible? How crazy is that?" she asks me.

"Yeah, that's crazy, Liss," I tell her, giving her a small smile. She was my best friend, but her interest in astrology and psychic phenomena was not for me.

"And, we both love Italian food. His chicken parmesan is to die for. If only you had stayed in the class," she laments.

"Liss, I was kicked out, I didn't choose to leave. Again, it isn't my fault that I can barely boil water. It was the counselors fault for even thinking I'd do well in that class," I say, laughing.

"This is true. But still, I wish you were there so you could meet him," she says, frowning.

"I have met him, Liss," I chuckle. "I was there for the first two classes."

"Yeah, but you didn't talk to him or anything. You were just in his presence," she counters.

"Trust me, I think being in his presence was enough. Yeah, he's kind of hot in an I'm-angry-at-my-parents and shop at Hot Topic type of way, but I feel like we'd butt heads," I say.

"Whatever you say, Rose," she says, shaking her head at me and laughing, proceeding to shove a spoon full of oatmeal into her mouth.

"Where's Avery today?" Mia asks, pulling out of her conversation with Sydney and Jill.

She gestures with her head towards their usual table, where Natalie sat alone with Camille and the other members of their group.

"Maybe she skipped breakfast," Lissa shrugs.

"She was acting kind of weird at count this morning," Jill says. The bunk she shared with Natalie was right across from Avery and Camille's.

"Weird how?" Sydney asks.

"Just really jittery. She looked nervous if you asked me," Jill continues.

"Why are we even worrying about her? Avery is freaky," Lissa questions.

"Just curious, babe. There's nothing better to do in here anyways," Mia says, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

After breakfast was finished, we each split to go to our respective workplaces. I lingered in the cafeteria until it was almost cleared out, convincing Jill to head to work without me. I was looking for Dimitri, of course.

He was lingering near the exit of the cafeteria. It was just he and officer Tanner in the dining hall today. When almost everyone had emptied out of the cafeteria, I approached him.

"Hey, Comrade," I say quietly to him, and give him a small smile.

He smiles back warmly.

"Rose," he addresses me in an almost whisper.

"I can't believe you like westerns. I so didn't peg you for a cowboy," I joke with him, referencing one of the last questions I asked him. I had asked what his favorite book was, and his response was any kind of western novel. I just about died laughing when I read it.

I could just picture him as a little kid, wearing a cowboy hat and boots pretending to dole out justice to all the lawbreakers and outlaws.

"Hey, I didn't make fun of you when you said your favorite movie was Legally Blonde," he jokes back with me, a small smile on his face.

"Yeah, because even you know that movie is a classic. Besides, I like other movies with actual substance. I just so happen to have a soft spot in my heart for nostalgic chick flicks," I say, brushing my hair over my shoulder.

"Of course you do," he says. "You know, I've actually seen that movie. My sisters forced it upon me when I was younger. You remind me of the main character," he says, smiling fondly at me. Or maybe at the thought of his sisters. Yeah, probably that one.

"Why? Because of my classic blonde, pale good looks?" I joke.

That earns me a full out laugh from him, and inside I feel victorious.

"No, not that. It's her personality. She's very energetic like you are," he says, still smiling.

"Is that your way of saying I'm loud? Or annoying?" I question, mostly joking, but raising my eyebrows at him anyways.

"No. You're just very full of life, even though you're removed from the rest of society. It's an admirable quality. Most of the women in here seem to have dulled considerably," he tells me.

"Well, this is only temporary, right? If I let being in here defeat me then I'll lose myself completely," I tell him honestly. He smiles back at me before checking his watch.

"You should get going, or you'll be late for work duty," he says, once again reminding me of our different social status.

"Right. See you later, Comrade," I say, skipping down the hallway in a good mood. Before heading to electrical, I decided to make a stop in the bathroom beforehand. When I entered, the stalls were empty. I did my business quickly and had just reached the sink to wash my hands, but just before I turned the water on, I heard a noise that sounded like gagging. I thought the bathroom was empty, but maybe someone was in the last stall with the closed door that I thought was vacant.

"Hello?" I say. Then came the sound of dry heaving again, followed by a choked cough.

Approaching the door slowly, but making my footsteps loud so whoever it was wouldn't be startled, I pushed open the unlocked door.

Inside the stall was Avery, looking very grim. She was slumped over the toilet on her knees, her face pale and sweaty, her long brown hair sticking in straggly strands to her forehead.

"Avery," I say cautiously. "Are you okay?" I ask. Even though the bitch was sort of creepy and super rude, she was clearly unwell. I wasn't just going to leave her alone here even though I didn't like her.

She didn't answer, but continued to wretch unsuccessfully into the toilet.

"Do you need—" I started, but stopped when she waved her hand weakly at me, like she was shooing me away.

"I'm just trying to help," I say a little defensively.

"Fuck off," she says, her voice sounding weak and raspy. God, even sick and in pain, she was a bitch.

"Do you want me to tell a CO to send someone from the clinic?" I say, giving her one last chance.

She doesn't say anything, but shakes her head violently, which I would guess probably makes her dizzy all over again because she clutches her head and groans.

"I don't want to just leave you here," I say, my protective nature getting the best of me, even though Avery clearly didn't want my help.

Slowly, she turns to look at me, and gives me a curious look. Almost thankful.

"Just go," she says quietly, and in a way less hostile tone than earlier. She wiped the corner of her mouth with her arm and looks disgusted.

I hesitate, not really comfortable with leaving her. But I was already late for work and she didn't want me there. Slowly I back out of the stall, shooting her one last look to give her a chance to ask for my help, but she's already turned back to the toilet.

Shaking my head as I leave the bathroom, I look up at the clock on the wall and realize I'm now late. Fuck. Hopefully Mason wouldn't mind.

I jog down the hallways to get to electrical, and burst through the door when I arrive. Everyone looks up at me as I enter the room, and Jill gives me a questioning look.

"Nice of you to finally join us, Hathaway," Mason remarks. He's smirking, so I know I'm not really in trouble, but still my face flushes with the embarrassment of everyone looking at me.

I take my seat next to Jill and begin laying out the supplies I'll need to work on our latest project.

"Hathaway, have you seen Lazar?" Mason asks me. I debated for a moment on whether or not I should tell him what I'd seen. On the one hand, Avery seemed really sick and looked like she could use some help. But on the other hand, if I'd asked someone for privacy and they'd turned me in, even if I was ill, I'd be pissed.

"Um…No. We aren't friends. I don't know where she is," I lie. I wonder if I'm making a mistake.

Mason accepts my lie, and gets on his radio to see if anyone has seen Avery. I try not to listen in.

"Where were you?" Jill asks me.

"I had to ask Officer Belikov a question, and then I stopped at the bathroom," I said. Not quite a lie but not the full truth either.

"It took you that long?" she asks me, brushing some of her crazy curly hair out of her face.

"Yeah. I actually saw Avery in the bathroom," I say, dropping my voice down to a whisper.

"Why didn't you just tell Mason that?" she questions, seeming confused.

"Because there was something wrong with her. She was sick. All pale and sweaty and throwing up. I offered help but she asked me to leave. She didn't want me to tell the CO's," I reply.

"And you listened? Since when are you on good terms with Avery?" Jill says, wrinkling her nose.

"I'm not. She was just so pathetic looking and I don't know. I know she's a bitch but she asked me not to tell," I offer up.

"Do you think it was drug related? Maybe she doesn't want to get in trouble," Jill theorizes.

"Yeah, it could have been," I say. "I didn't even think about that."

"I mean, she is a junkie. You never know," Jill says and shrugs.

After that, we make some light chit chat and continue working, and I forget all about Avery. The day passes by fairly quickly after that, and soon it's time for dinner.

Me and Jill get our trays and make our way to join the others. I notice Lissa isn't there.

"Hey, where's Liss?" I ask Sydney, knowing she shared custodial duty with her.

"Well she had her counselor appointment today, but it should've been over by now. Maybe it ran late," she answers, shrugging her shoulders.

"Probably," I say, knowing she'd show up soon.

Halfway through our dinner time when Lissa still hadn't shown up, I started to worry.

"Hey, guys, I think I'm gonna go look for Liss," I announce to the table.

"Do you want us to go with you?" Mia asks me.

"No, finish your dinner. I'll be fine on my own," I say. "Hopefully her session just ran over."

Dumping my half-eaten tray, I leave the dining hall in search of Lissa. First, I make my way down the hall where Dr. Olendzki's office is.

The door is closed, and the light inside is off. I try the knob, but it's locked like I suspected. Well, damn. If she wasn't here, where was she?

I check the bathrooms in the same hallway, but they're empty as well. I decide to go back to the dorms and check there. Maybe she wasn't hungry for dinner and decided to get to bed early? I hoped she had.

Before I made way back to the dorm, I decided last minute to check the B Dorm showers just in case. When I entered the large room, at first I assumed it to be empty until I heard sniffling. It sounded like it was coming from one of the stalls, not the shower area, so I approached them cautiously.

Judging on where I thought the sound was coming from, I tentatively pushed the door to the middle stall open, to see Lissa, sitting on the toilet with the lid closed clutching her knees to her chest, tears streaming down her face.

"Lissa? What's wrong?" I say, squeezing myself into the stall with her.

She looks up from where she had her head tucked into her knees, startled.

"Rose?" she mumbles, sniffling.

"Liss, are you okay?" getting closer to her, trying to inspect her for injury.

"I'm—I'm—fine," she stutters out in between breaths.

"You're a terrible liar. Tell me, please," I say softly, putting my hand on her shoulder.

"I can't Rose," she cries. "He'll know."

"Who will? Did someone hurt you?" I say, now extremely concerned.

She shakes her head back and forth quickly, continuing to cry softly.

"Lissa, please. I'm your best friend. You can tell me anything."

"After—after my session, CO Zeklos called me into his office. He said he wanted to talk to me about an issue," she says quietly.

"Zeklos? If he fucking touched you I swear—" I start.

"No, he—he didn't. But—"

"But what?" I say, now getting impatient. Not with Lissa, but I wanted to know what that creep did to upset her.

"He said…that he could get me things…if I did certain favors for him. Sexual favors," she says. She had finally stopped crying, but her eyes were still watery and her nose was stuffy.

"What do you mean get things?" I say, confused.

"Drugs, Rose. He offered me drugs in exchange for sex," she says, disgusted. "And what's worse…for a second, I almost considered it. I've come so far, Rose, and I almost just threw it all away. I can't believe myself," she says, the tears starting again in a fresh wave. My stomach drops at the thought of her using drugs again.

"Yeah, but you said no, Liss. That's all that matters. It doesn't matter what you thought about, it matters what you acted on," I tell her. I knew how hard it was for her when she went through withdrawals. She had told me how powerful and controlling addiction could be. She really had come so far; telling Jesse no was huge.

"Yeah, I—I guess you're right," she sniffs.

"We need to report him! He can't just do shit like that," I exclaim, suddenly furious at Jesse Zeklos.

"He already has Rose. He said some of the other girls have already taken up his offer. If we rat, he'll know it was me. And the other girls he's dealing to will have it out for me. You can't say anything, Rose. Promise me you won't say anything," she pleads.

"Liss, I don't know if I can—"

"Please, Rose. Please," she begs, grasping both of my hands. "I told him no. He'll move on. Please just let it go after this."

I blow out a long breath, and run my hands through my hair. What the hell could I do? If I reported Jesse, he could easily claim I was lying. None of the girls he'd sold to would rat on him. They'd have no reason to suspect him. It would be my word against his, and I was the criminal here.

And Lissa was right. If we told, he might know it was her. He could make her life hell. So could the other girls. Lissa wouldn't be safe anymore, and I couldn't do that to her.

"Fine. I won't say anything. But if he so much as breathes wrong in your direction, tell me, okay?" I say, and she nods. I make her pinky promise too, just in case.

"Let's get you cleaned up, okay? This stall is disgusting," I say, ushering her and myself out of the dingy bathroom stall.

Lissa splashes some water on her face and combs through her hair, trying to make herself somewhat presentable. After we both deem that she looks mostly normal, we head back to our bunks. It's still pretty early, so most people haven't made their way back from dinner.  
I convince Lissa to lay down in her bunk, where she quickly fell asleep.

I lay in my bunk as well, deciding to skip my shower to watch over Lissa. As I lay there, I was contemplating the events of the past few days.

Maybe it was all connected. The reason Avery's drugged up group was so jovial, Avery's sickness this morning…it was probably all related to CO Zeklos.

He has access to prisoner's records, so it'd be easy for him to pinpoint drug users quickly and try to sell to them first. It was no wonder they were all so loud and excited. They were getting their beloved fix back. Avery probably had a bad high and was trying to get over it this morning.

This was bigger than I thought. If CO Zeklos was pushing drugs around the camp, lots of girls would probably take him up on the offer. He could do anything he wants with the power he'd have.

If what Lissa said was true, we were about to have way bigger problems around here than whether or not Dimitri liked me.

 **A/N: Hopefully I'll be able to update every one to two weeks now! Next chapter will be in DPOV ;)**

 **Reviews are always appreciated.**


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